GEORGE  HOLMES  HOWISON 


A.     /tttAAu 


BENJAMIN   JOWETT 
aetat  54 


SELECT  PASSAGES  FROM  THE 
THEOLOGICAL  WRITINGS 
OF  BENJAMIN  JOWETT 

LATE  MASTER  OF  BALLIOL  COLLEGE  AND 

PROFESSOR    OF    GREEK    IN    THE     UNIVERSITY 

OF   OXFORD.      DOCTOR    IN   THEOLOGY   OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  LEYDEN 

EDITED  BY  LEWIS  CAMPBELL,  M.A.,  LL.D. 

HONORARY  FELLOW  OF  BALLIOL  COLLEGE,  EMERITUS  PROFESSOR  OF  GREEK 
IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ST.  ANDREWS 


NEW   YORK 
HENRY  FROWDE,  93  &  95  FIFTH  AVENUE 

1902 


o  C 


OXFORD :     HORACE    HART 
PRINTER    TO    THE   UNIVERSITY 


PREFACE 

THE  passages  of  Professor  Jowett's  writings 
which  are  here  reprinted  have  been  selected  from 
the  following  sources  :  — 

1 .  The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Thessalonians, 
Galatians,   Romans,   with   notes   and   dissertations. 
2nd  edition,    1859. 

2.  An   Essay  On  the  Interpretation  of  Scripture 
contributed    to   Essays    and   Reviews •,     1 8  60,    and 
reprinted  in  the   3rd  edition  of  the  Epistles. 

3.  Three  posthumous  volumes  of  Sermons,  edited 
by   the    Honourable    and  Very   Reverend  W.  H. 
Fremantle,  Dean  of  Ripon,  1899-1901. 

4.  A  few  extracts  from  Professor  Jowett's  Note- 
books, which  were  published  in  his  Biography  (Life 
and  Letters  of  Benjamin  Joivett,  Murray,  1896). 

5.  Some  MS.  fragments,  which  Professor  Jowett 
had  preserved  amongst  his  papers,  probably  with  the  in- 
tention of  working  them  into  future  Sermons.    These 
Anecdota  are  indicated  with  an  asterisk  prefixed. 

Although  the  Sermons  are  naturally  less  finished 
than  the  Essays  which  were  published  in  the  author's 
lifetime,  Jowett's  style  in  preaching  is  not  markedly 
different  from  that  of  his  notes  or  dissertations  on 
theological  subjects.  In  both  there  is  an  avoidance 


iv  PREFACE 

of  mere  rhetoric,  and  an  appeal  at  once  to  reason 
and  to  spiritual  emotion.  Nor  were  his  views  of 
religious  truth  much  altered  after  middle  life. 

Until  his  forty-second  year,  Jowett's  main  interest 
centred  in  theology ;  and  afterwards,  although  the 
bulk  of  his  working  time  was  occupied  by  the  labours 
of  the  Greek  Professorship,  including  his  transla- 
tions, and  by  the  duties  of  the  Balliol  Headship, 
religious  topics  were  rarely  absent  from  his  mind. 
This  is  proved  by  many  entries  in  his  note-books. 
And  he  deliberately  sought  an  outlet  for  his  thoughts 
in  preaching. 

He  wrote  from  Scotland  to  an  intimate  friend 
in  August,  1865: — 'I  certainly  mean  when  my 
Plato  is  finished  to  devote  two  or  three  years  to 
preaching,  giving  up  my  whole  mind  to  this  and 
publishing  the  Sermons1.' 

A  special  opportunity  occurred  in  1866,  when 
Arthur  Stanley,  by  that  time  well  established  in  the 
Deanery  of  Westminster,  invited  his  friend  to  preach 
to  the  Sunday  afternoon  congregation  in  the  Abbey. 
And  every  summer  thenceforth,  shortly  after  the 
conclusion  of  the  Oxford  term,  the  Master  of 
Balliol's  Westminster  Sermon  was  an  event  eagerly 
anticipated  and  richly  enjoyed  by  a  goodly  company. 
This  continued  until  the  year  of  his  death  (1893). 
In  1892,  having  recently  recovered  from  a  dangerous 
illness,  he  delivered  there  the  sermon  on  Richard 
Baxter,  containing  the  reflections  on  old  age  which 
appear  on  pp.  207-11  of  this  volume. 

It  is  hoped  that  from  these  extracts  some  readers 
may  be  induced  to  proceed  to  the  Sermons  themselves 
and  to  the  work  on  St.  Paul,  which  was  reissued 
1  Life,  vol.  i.  p.  412. 


PREFACE  v 

by  the  present  editor  in  1896,  with  the  omission 
of  some  portions  of  the  Commentary.  This  partial 
abridgement  was  in  accordance  with  Professor 
Jowett's  own  direction.  He  said,  '  I  think  that 
perhaps  two-thirds  of  what  I  have  written  in 
theology  might  be  preserved.' 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.    THE    GOSPELS    AND    THE  LIFE   OF 

CHRIST. 

">  Christ  as  revealed  by  the  Evangelists  i 
The  Words  of  Christ  as  the  Centre 

of  the  Christian  Life    ....  5 

One  having  Authority    .....  6 

The  Character  of  Christ's  Teaching  7 
How  we  should  view  Discrepancies 

in  the  Gospels    ......  9 

The   Living  Witnesses  of  Christ's 

Work    .........  12 

The  True  Disciple    ......  13 

What  Christ  says  to  us  now   ...  14 

Life  for  Others,  Life  in  God  ...  17 

The  Lord's  Prayer    ......  19 

The   World    prepared    for    Chris- 

tianity .........  20 

Ideal  and  the  Real  Christ    .     .  21 


II.    ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION. 

The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul    ...  24 

Changes  of  Character     .....  25 
The    Temperament    of    Religious 

Leaders  26 


iii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

II.    ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION  (continued}. 

The  Thorn  in  the  Flesh  ....  29 
Knowledge  of  Mankind  based  on 

Love 30 

Strength  out  of  Weakness      ...       31 

III.    PROPHECY. 

Old  Testament  Chronology  ...  35 
Transition  from  the  Nation  to  the 

Individual 36 

The   Prophets  and  the  New  Dis- 
pensation    39 

The  Language  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment      41 

The  Twofold  Lesson  of  Goodness 

and  Severity 42 

Use  and  Misuse  of  Prophecy  ...  43 
The  Development  of  Prophecy  .  .  44 
The  Interpretation  of  Prophecy  .  48 
The  Causes  of  Progress  ....  50 
The  Living  Power  of  the  Jewish 

Prophets 53 

IV.    THE  EARLY  CHURCH. 

Development  of  the  Church    ...  54 

Development  of  Doctrine  ....  55 
Suddenness  and  Permanence  of  Early 

Conversions 58 

Regeneration 60 

The  Transition  from  Judaism  .  .  60 
The  Fullness  of  Time  ...  .66 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

IV.    THE  EARLY  CHURCH  (continued). 

Relation  of  Christianity  to  Nature 

and  History 67 

The  Persecution  of  the  First 

Preachers 68 

The  First  Day  of  the  Week  ...  72 

V.    CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES. 

Justification  by  Faith 74 

Original  Sin 77 

Atonement 80 

Predestination  and  Free  Will      .     .  94 

The  Divine  Attributes 104 

Prayer 109 

Immortality 114 

VI.    RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES. 

The  Simple  Truths  of  Religion  .    .  117 
The  Government  of  God  and  the 

Laws  of  Nature 1 1 8 

->  The  Opposition  of  Reason  and  Faith  119 

The  Evils  of  Society 120 

The  Church  and  the  World   .     .     .  123 

The  Divine  Nature 124 

v  Religion  and  Politics 126 

Interpretation  of  Scripture     .     .     .  128 

"v.  Faith  and  Experience 129 

Faith    ithoutKnowledge,and  Know- 
ledge without  Faith     ....  130 
The  Psalms  in  Public  Worship  .     .  132 
Belief  of  the  Heart 133 


x  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VI.    RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES  (continued). 

The  Evil  of  Sectarianism  .    .     .     .  134 

The  Weakness  of  Religious  Feelings  135 

God,  not  Party 136 

Religion  and  Science  not  opposed    .  137 

Criticism  and  Reality 139 

The  Duty  of  the  Critical  Student   .  139 

The  Manifestation  of  God      .     .     .  140 

Evidences  cf  God  in  the  Universe  .  141 

The  Sacraments 147 

Good  and  Evil  in  Religion .     .     .     .  148 

*  Doubtful  Disputations '     ....  149 

Exaggerations  of  Religious  Feeling.  150 

VII.    THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  Comparative  Study  of  Religions  152 

Buddhism 153 

The  Value  of  Comparative  Theology  154 
The     Sources    of    Corruption     in 

Religion 156 

The  Growth  of  Early  Religions  .     .  158 

The  Roman  Religion 163 

The  Two  Great  Forms  of  Religion  164 

VIII.    THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION. 

Things  which  cannot  be  shaken  .     .  167 

Religious  Progress 169 

The  True  Evidences  of  Christianity  170 

The  Brotherhood  of  all  Mankind    .  172 

The  Church  of  the  Future      .     .     .  174 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

VIII.    THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION  (continued). 

Tests  of  Religious  Movements    .     .  176 

Perversions  of  Religion 178 

The  Personal  Element  in  Religion  .  179 

The  Originality  of  Christianity    .     .  180 

'  Phases  of  Faith ' 181 

A  New  Reformation 182 

The  Will  of  God  as  the  Law  of  Life  1 8  3 
Diminution  of  Differences  between 

the  Churches 185 

The  Church  of  England  as  it  is  .     .  187 

Individual  Life  and  Institutions  .     ,  190 

The  Invisible  Church 192 

Looking  Forward 193 

IX.    RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES. 

Death  as  the  Revealer  of  a  Man's 

Life 194 

The  Teacher  and  his  Disciples   .     .  195 

Loyola  and  his  Followers   ....  197 
I  Pascal's    Theory   and    Practice   of 

Religion 201 

The  Spirit  of  Religious  Leaders .     .  204 

Religion  and  the  Lord's  Supper.     .  205 

An  Old  Man's  Retrospect  ....  207 

>Charles  Dickens 212 

A  Liberal  Clergyman 213 

The  Lady  Augusta  Stanley     .     .     .  214 

W.  H.  Smith 216 

"   Lord  Macaulay 216 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGl 

X.    THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE. 

Ideals 21! 

The  Sameness  of  Life 2i< 

Wasted  Lives 22: 

Causes  of  Failure  in  Life    .     .     .     .  22: 
How  far  does  Christianity  influence 

the  World? 22: 

Moral  Weakness 22; 

Casuistry 22* 

The  Evils  of  Casuistry 22! 

The  Imitation  of  Christ     ....  23* 

Broken  Lives 23: 

The  Happiness  of  Family  Life    .     .  23: 

The  Softening  Influence  of  Death  .  23 

Sympathy,  Human  and  Divine    .     .  23^ 

Changes  in  Life  and  Character   .     .  231 

The  Reality  of  Religious  Influences  24: 


I 

THE    GOSPELS   AND    THE   LIFE    OF 
CHRIST 

Christ  as  revealed  by  the  Evangelists 

*  THE  life  of  Christ  is  at  a  distance  from  us,  like 
the  sight  which  a  mariner  sees  over  a  great  water, 
receding  towards  the  horizon.  The  record  is  frag- 
mentary, the  three  first  Gospels  being  three  recensions 
of  the  same  original  narrative,  as  is  proved  by  their 
verbal  similarities;  the  fourth  Gospel,  which  is 
verbally  dissimilar,  representing,  not  the  very  words, 
but  the  mind  of  Christ  as  He  appeared  afterwards 
to  one  who  had  deeply  pondered  upon  His  character 
and  life.  And  succeeding  ages  have  added  to  their 
conception  of  Him  what  was  best  and  holiest 
among  His  followers.  Many  things  which  Jesus 
said  were  not  understood  at  the  time ;  '  they  under- 
stood not  the  words  which  He  spake  unto  them'; 
how  then  could  they  be  accurate  reporters  of 
them  ?  Neither  do  we  pretend  to  say  that  we 
understand  them  in  all  their  depth ;  or  that  we  do 
not  adapt  them  erroneously  to  our  own  circumstances 
or  state  of  life.  To  one  age  they  have  spoken  the 
language  of  Protestantism,  to  another  of  Catholicism ; 
to  one,  they  have  seemed  to  maintain  the  divine 
B 


2  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

right  or  cngin  of  existing  institutions,  another  has 
discovered  in  them  the  seeds  of  socialism.  The 
truth  was  that  they  contained  none  of  these  things, 
but  something  truer,  holier,  deeper,  of  which  they 
were  the  perversions. 

There  are  some  veils  or  difficulties  which  will 
always  interpose  themselves,  when  we  attempt  to 
apply  the  words  of  Christ  to  our  own  times.  They 
do  not  seem  to  be  quite  appropriate  to  the  altered 
world  in  which  we  live.  They  are  so  simple  and 
modern  society  is  so  complex.  The  first  disciples 
were  as  different  from  ourselves  as  the  Eastern 
nations  are  from  the  Western,  or  the  Ancients  from 
the  Moderns.  They  lived  in  the  country  or  in 
small  villages  under  a  bright  Eastern  sun ;  they  were 
for  the  most  part  fishermen,  easily  supporting  them- 
selves by  the  labour  of  their  hands — not  like  the 
over-tasked  workers  in  our  great  towns.  They 
were  not  exactly  educated,  nor  yet  uneducated ; 
they  were  men  of  simple  and  gentle  manners ;  though 
poor,  we  should  err  in  confounding  them  with  the 
poorer  classes  among  ourselves ;  the  truth  is  that 
difference  of  ranks  is  not  marked  in  the  East  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  our  European  world.  Their 
ideas  were  of  an  Oriental  or  Jewish  cast  based  upon 
the  words  of  the  Prophets  or  of  the  Law,  which  they 
interpreted  by  translation  after  the  manner  of  their 
age.  And  Christ  speaks  to  them  as  to  Jews ;  He 
does  not  anticipate,  nor  could  they  have  understood 
the  thoughts  or  ideas  which  the  civilized  world  has 
accumulated  in  eighteen  centuries.  Neither  does 
He  attempt  to  clear  away  from  their  minds  every 
vestige  of  Jewish  superstition,  but  only  such  errors 
as  seemed  to  pervert  and  corrupt  the  soul.  He 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  3 

does  not  teach  them  the  well-known  and  in  many 
respects  valuable  rules  of  prudence  which  Political 
Economy  lays  down  for  the  management  of  the  poor 
in  an  industrial  and  populous  society.  The  lesson 
which  He  preached  was  deeper  and  more  compre- 
hensive— that  they  are  our  brethren  and  equals,  in 
some  respects  to  be  preferred  :  'Son,  thou  in  thy 
lifetime  hadst  thy  good  things/  and  '  Blessed  are 
the  poor,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.' 
Neither  did  He  determine  the  relations  of  the 
Church  to  the  State,  except  by  refusing  to  determine 
them :  '  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  else 
would  My  servants  fight  for  it.'  Neither  did  He 
define  the  relations  of  the  Jews  to  the  Romans,  but 
said  only,  '  Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's.'  There  was  a  sense  in  which  they  were 
to  call  no  man  Master,  for  their  Master  was  in 
heaven ;  and  yet  when  their  hearts  were  sometimes 
thrilled  by  the  memory  of  the  Maccabean  wars  they 
were  to  remember  that  'they  who  take  the  sword 
should  perish  with  the  sword.'  Neither  did  He  say 
whether  men  should  fast  or  not,  but  only  '  when  ye 
fast  be  not  as  the  hypocrites,'  and  '  when  the  Bride- 
groom is  taken  away,  then  shall  ye  fast.'  Men  desire 
to  have  precise  rules  or  formulas  of  action;  they 
busy  themselves  with  questions  of  casuistry,  which 
in  real  life  hardly  or  never  occur.  They  raise  doubts 
about  the  unseen  world.  But  Christ  speaks  to  them 
from  a  more  universal  point  of  view — not  like  the 
philosopher  of  whom  Plato  speaks  as  the  spectator 
of  all  time  and  of  all  existence,  but  rather  as  one  who 
saw  through  man  into  the  very  soul  and  principle 
of  his  being,  to  whom  the  world  parted  asunder  and 
left  him  alone  with  God. 

B    2 


4  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

Yet  there  is  another  difficulty  or  veil  which  falls 
upon  the  eyes  or  hearts  of  many  of  us  when  we 
read  the  narrative  of  the  Gospels.  The  nature  of 
Christ  appears  to  be  so  far  removed  from  us  that 
we  have  nothing  in  common  with  it.  The  ten- 
dency of  theology  has  been  to  take  Christ  out  of 
our  sight,  and  even  sometimes  to  place  others 
between  us  and  Him  until  His  life  on  earth  has 
become  unreal  or  has  been  confused  with  another 
life  of  which  we  cannot  even  entertain  a  conjecture. 
But  this  is  not  the  image  of  Him  which  is  revealed 
to  us  in  the  Gospels :  rather  He  seems  to  be  sub- 
ject to  every  human  sorrow,  joy,  temptation,  affec- 
tion of  which  we  are  capable.  He  does  not  set 
Himself  above  us,  but  thinks  of  mankind  as  His 
brethren.  The  narrative  of  Christ  in  the  Gospels, 
if  we  make  allowance  for  what  is  local  and  frag- 
mentary, is  simple  and  consistent.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  character  of  Christ  of  which  the 
beginnings  may  not  be  seen  in  some  of  His  fol- 
lowers. And  we  should  make  a  nearer  approach 
to  a  true  estimate  of  His  nature,  by  thinking  of  the 
best  men  and  women  whom  we  have  ever  known, 
than  by  immersing  ourselves  in  the  controversies  of 
the  past.  He  came  to  teach  us  that  God  speaks  to 
men  not  in  the  thunder,  nor  in  the  storm,  nor  in  the 
whirlwind,  but  in  the  still  small  voice.  We  can- 
not think  of  Him  as  the  God  of  battles  or  of  armies, 
as  the  God  who  wielded  the  powers  of  nature 
described  in  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,  but 
rather  as  the  suffering  servant  of  God  :  '  A  bruised 
reed  shall  He  not  break,  nor  quench  the  smoking 
flax  :  He  shall  not  strive  nor  cry,  neither  shall  any 
hear  His  voice  in  the  streets.'  His  gentleness  is 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  5 

also  His  power.  This  is  the  image  of  that  Christ 
who  carried  our  sorrows  and  bare  our  infirmities, 
whom  not  having  seen  we  love,  because  He  first 
loved  us ;  and  the  memory  of  that  love  yet  abides 
in  the  heart  of  the  human  race. 

(Unpulllshed.} 

The  Words  of  Christ  as  the  Centre  of  the 
Christian  Life 

There  is  no  study  of  theology  which  is  likely  to 
exercise  a  more  elevating  influence  on  the  individual, 
or  a  more  healing  one  on  divisions  of  opinion,  than 
the  study  of  the  words  of  Christ  Himself.  The 
heart  is  its  own  witness  to  them  ;  all  Christian 
sects  acknowledge  them  ;  they  seem  to  escape  or 
rise  above  the  region  or  atmosphere  of  controversy. 
The  form  in  which  they  exhibit  the  Gospel  to  us 
is  the  simplest  and  also  the  deepest ;  they  are  more 
free  from  details  than  any  other  part  of  Scripture, 
and  they  are  absolutely  independent  of  personal  and 
national  influences.  In  them  is  contained  the  ex- 
pression of  the  inner  life,  of  mankind,  and  of  the 
Church;  there,  too,  the  individual  beholds,  as  in 
a  glass,  the  image  of  a  goodness  which  is  not  of 
this  world.  To  rank  their  authority  below  that  of 
Apostles  and  Evangelists  is  to  give  up  the  best  j 
hope  of  reuniting  Christendom  in  itself,  and  of 
making  Christianity  a  universal  religion. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  326-7.) 

*  The  words  of  Christ  are  the  centre,  the  heart, 
the  life  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  simple 
narrative  of  the  Gospels  more  than  any  other 


6  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

writing,  has  affected  the  course  of  the  world.  It 
has  exercised  a  great  though  indefinite  influence  on 
the  institutions  and  laws  of  Christian  countries,  on 
the  average  standard  of  morality,  on  the  teaching 
of  the  Christian  Church.  In  the  worst  of  times 
and  places  there  have  been  a  few  who  have  sought 
to  be  like  Christ,  to  whom  the  very  corruption 
which  they  saw  around  them  has  given  a  stimulus 
to  a  higher  life. 

Then  the  religion  of  Christ  is  not  only  a  word 
but  a  reality ;  it  is  necessarily  more  exclusive,  yet 
also  more  comprehensive.  For  it  includes  all  who 
are  leading  the  life  of  Christ  in  any  sensible  degree; 
it  excludes  all  who,  though  belonging  to  a  Christian 
community,  are  not  doing  the  works  of  Christ. 
Nor  need  we  necessarily  regard  ourselves  as  divided 
from  the  student  of  physical  science  who  is  too 
much  under  the  dominion  of  the  visible,  or  from  the 
artisan  who  is  unwilling  to  join  in  Christian  forms 
of  worship.  To  all  men's  hearts  the  words  of 
Christ  find  a  way  when  they  are  rightly  considered. 
For  no  one  will  say  that  to  hate  is  better  than  to 
love,  darkness  better  than  light,  impurity  than  holi- 
ness, falsehood  better  than  truth.  And  it  may  very 
likely  be  the  case  that  when  all  the  endless  books 
and  tomes  of  scholastic  divinity,  ancient  and  modern, 
shall  have  ceased  to  interest  mankind,  the  words  of 
Christ,  and  these  alone,  shall  prevail. 

(Unpublished.) 

One  having  Authority 

*  We  are  told  that  Christ  spoke  to  men  as 
one  that  had  authority;  not  an  authority  like  that 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  7 

of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  which  is  given  from 
without,  but  an  authority  which  flowed  naturally 
from  the  absolute  conviction  of  the  truth  of  His 
own  words.  Of  this  too  we  might  find  imperfect 
examples  within  our  own  experience.  For  when 
a  man  is  possessed  with  a  truth  and  feels  that  he 
has  a  mission  to  utter  it,  he  becomes  a  power  in  the 
world.  So  Christ  having  received  the  truth  from 
His  Father,  brought  it  down  to  men.  The  opinions 
of  the  world,  the  customs  of  society,  the  traditions 
of  Churches — they  too  had  an  authority,  but  it  was 
of  another  sort.  They  did  not  come  immediately 
from  God ;  they  did  not  find  a  witness  in  the  better 
mind  and  conscience  of  man  ;  they  were  the  words 
of  an  age  and  country,  and  might  be  even  unmean- 
ing or  absurd  in  some  other  age  or  country.  But 
the  words  of  Christ  were  eternal  and  unchangeable ; 
as  long  as  human  nature  lasts,  while  the  world  stands, 
these  and  these  alone  shall  never  pass  away. 

(Unpublished.} 

The  Character  of  Christ's  Teaching 

*  There  have  been  those  who,  by  infinite  labour 
and  by  long  processes  of  inference,  have  discovered 
some  new  and  important  idea ;  there  are  others  who, 
without  having  learned  or  been  taught,  by  a  sort  of 
intuition  or  inspiration  attain  of  themselves  to  the 
same  truth.  This  latter  sort  of  knowledge  we  may 
truly  regard  as  the  nearer  image  of  the  knowledge 
which  we  ascribe  to  Christ.  And  sometimes  it 
happens  that  truth  has  been  overlaid  by  opinion  or 
by  tradition,  and  the  sense  of  duty  has  been  per- 
verted by  casuistry,  or  the  general  principle  has  been 


8  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

lost  in  minutiae :  then  arises  some  honest  and  able 
man  who  by  the  light  of  common  sense  cuts  the 
knot  and  restores  to  men  their  natural  sense  of 
truth  and  right :  this  again,  though  an  inadequate, 
appears  to  be  not  an  untrue  image  of  the  character 
of  our  Lord's  teaching.  .  .  . 

Not  only  did  the  simplicity  of  the  words  of 
Christ  find  a  way  to  the  hearts  of  men,  but  they 
felt  them  to  be  words  spoken  out  of  His  infinite 
love  for  them :  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  sat  in 
Moses'  seat — they  expounded  the  law  after  their 
manner — but  there  was  no  human  tie  which  bound 
them  to  their  fellow  men.  Christ  came  to  deliver 
man  out  of  His  endless  love  for  him.  ...  It  was 
natural  to  Him  when  He  looked  upon  men  to  love 
them,  as  a  father  or  mother  naturally  love  their 
own  children.  For  them,  not  for  Himself,  He  felt 
and  took  thought :  He  saw  them  suffering  from 
sickness  and  sin,  rebelling  against  the  law  of  God 
and  the  appointment  of  Nature.  They  were 
wandering  in  the  wilderness  out  of  the  way ;  the 
face  of  God  was  hidden  from  them.  And  He 
spoke  to  them  in  a  manner  which  they  had  never 
heard  before  of  His  Father  and  their  Father,  of 
His  God  and  their  God.  He  told  them  that  their 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  was  more  ready  to  hear 
than  they  to  pray;  that  He  did  not  need  to  be 
told  of  them,  although  they  needed  to  be  told  of 
Him,  that  He  never  cast  out  any  that  came  to 
Him.  Only  they  must  renounce  their  sins.  They 
could  not  be  the  friends  of  God  and  hate  their 
brethren  ;  they  could  not  truly  worship  God  when 
they  sought  only  to  be  seen  of  men ;  they  could 
not  hold  communion  with  God  and  be  the  ser- 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  9 

vants  of  impurity  and  sin.  But  let  them  once 
break  through  the  hardness  of  heart  which  divided 
them  from  God,  through  the  veil  of  passion  which 
hid  Him  from  them  ;  let  them  believe  in  the  word 
of  Christ,  and  like  Him  they  would  become  the 
Sons  of  God.  The  God  of  whom  He  spoke  to 
them  was  the  God  of  Israel,  the  God  of  their 
fathers,  but  He  was  also  the  God  of  purity  and 
love,  of  holiness  and  truth  ;  and  they  could  only 
see  Him  in  so  far  as  they  became  like  Him.  And 
men  felt  that  what  He  told  them  was  in  accordance 
with  their  own  better  mind.  The  message  of  love 
had  a  transforming  power ;  they  lifted  up  their  eyes 
to  God  and  were  delivered  from  the  evil. 

(Unpublished.) 

How  we  should  view  Discrepancies  in  the 
Gospels 

The  agony  had  ceased,  the  final  hour  had  come, 
although,  a  short  time  before,  Christ,  like  some  of 
those  who  have  been  partakers  of  His  sufferings, 
had  tasted  the  bitterness  of  death,  and  there  was 
a  moment  when  the  cry  had  been  wrung  from 
Him,  '  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  for- 
saken Me  ? '  while  at  another  moment  He  poured 
forth  the  prayer,  more  divine  than  any  earthquake 
or  darkness  which  veiled  the  awful  sight.  '  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do.' 
The  narrative  in  St.  John's  Gospel  differs  in 
several  points  from  the  narrative  of  the  other 
Gospels ;  and  the  love  of  truth  compels  us  to 
admit  that  the  words  of  Christ,  and  especially  these 
last  words,  are  differently  reported  by  St.  Luke 
and  St.  John.  When  we  consider  the  confusion 


io  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

and  uncertainty  of  the  scene,  we  shall  not  wonder 
that  some  spoke  of  our  Lord  as  expiring  with 
a  cry,  which  is  the  record  of  St.  Matthew  and 
St.  Mark,  while  others,  as  in  St.  Luke's  Gospel, 
reported  Him  to  have  said,  'Father,  into  Thy 
hands  I  commend  My  spirit ;  '  and  others  again 
describe  Him  as  pouring  forth  His  last  breath 
in  the  words,  '  It  is  finished,'  which  are  found 
in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Ingenious  persons 
have  attempted  to  harmonize  these  and  similar 
discrepancies  in  the  Gospels.  But  there  is  little 
wisdom  in  applying  to  Scripture  a  mode  of  recon- 
ciliation which  we  should  not  apply  to  an  ordinary 
history.  The  thought  of  Christ  which  has  filled 
the  mind  of  the  world  has  nothing  to  do  with 
those  microscopic  inquiries  respecting  the  com- 
position of  the  Gospels  which  have  so  greatly 
exercised  critics  for  more  than  a  century,  and  had 
better  perhaps  be  dropped  for  ever,  now  that  we 
seem  to  know  all  that  can  be  known  on  the  subject. 
All  the  four,  or  rather  the  three,  narratives  of  the 
Crucifixion  (for  that  of  St.  Mark  adds  nothing  of 
consequence  to  the  remaining  three)  are  extremely 
simple  ;  and  there  is  no  trace  in  any  of  them  that 
the  Evangelists  would  have  regarded  the  Lord  as 
saying  one  thing  with  one  part  of  His  nature  and 
another  with  another;  or  that  they  felt,  or  would 
have  even  understood,  the  difficulties  which  the 
after-reflections  of  theologians  have  introduced  into 
the  text  of  Scripture.  (College  Sermons,  326—7.) 

The  character  of  St.  John's  Gospel  is  not  his- 
torical, but  spiritual,  not  descriptive  of  the  outward 
forms  of  the  Church,  but  of  the  inner  life  of  the  soul. 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  11 

It  hardly  ever  touches  upon  the  relation  of  believers  to 
the  external  world  or  to  society,  but  only  upon  their 
relations  to  God  and  Christ.  They  are  withdrawn 
from  the  world  that  they  may  be  one  with  the 
Father  and  with  the  Son  ;  they  eat  the  bread  of  life  ; 
they  drink  the  water  of  life;  they  receive  another 
spirit  which  is  to  guide  them  into  all  truth.  They 
are  not,  as  in  the  parable,  like  the  wheat  growing 
together  with  the  tares;  nor  do  they  become  a  great 
tree  under  the  shadow  of  which  the  birds  of  the  air 
take  shelter :  they  are  the  branches  indeed  of  which 
Christ  is  the  Vine,  but  no  outward  glory  or  power 
is  attributed  to  them.  Nor  are  they  bound  together 
by  a  common  external  symbol ;  for,  as  you  will 
remember,  the  institution  of  the  Sacraments  is  not 
recorded  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Many  reasons 
have  been  given  for  the  omission ;  the  author  of  the 
fourth  Gospel  has  been  sometimes  supposed  to  have 
avoided  subjects  which  were  mentioned  in  the  three 
first.  But  there  is  no  proof  that  he  was  acquainted 
with  them ;  the  more  probable  reason  is,  if  any  is 
needed,  that  he  is  putting  forward  another  aspect  of 
the  life  of  Christ,  and  that  the  outward  fades  away 
before  his  mind  in  comparison  with  the  inward. 
Christ  is  not  described  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John 
as  instituting  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  or  the 
Lord's  Supper,  but  as  teaching  men  that  He  is 
the  Bread  of  Life.  And,  if  we  look  closely  at 
the  external  events  recorded,  we  shall  see  that  they 
are  told  for  the  sake  of  some  lesson  or  discourse 
which  is  appended  to  them,  rather  than  for  the  sake 
of  the  events  themselves.  The  miracles  are  very 
few;  one  class  of  them,  that  of  healing  the  de- 
moniacs, is  omitted.  For  example,  the  miracle  of 


12  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

the    five    thousand    is    narrated    in    the    three   first 
Gospels   chiefly   as   a  wonder,   but   in    the  fourth 
Gospel    with    a   manifest   reference   to   the   lesson 
which  follows  concerning   'the  bread  of  life.' 
(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  182—4.) 

The  Living  Witnesses  of  Christ's  Work 

'  He  went  about  doing  good.'  So  we  might  say 
in  our  own  age  of  two  or  three  who  have  been 
personally  known  to  us,  '  He  or  she  went  about 
doing  good.'  They  are  the  living  witnesses  to  us 
of  His  work.  If  we  observe  them  we  shall  see 
that  they  did  good  because  they  were  good — because 
they  lived  for  others  and  not  for  themselves,  because 
they  had  a  higher  standard  of  truth  and  therefore 
men  could  trust  them,  because  their  love  was  deeper 
and  therefore  they  drew  others  after  them.  These 
are  they  of  whom  we  read  in  Scripture  that  they 
bear  the  image  of  Christ  until  His  coming  again, 
and  of  a  few  of  them  that  they  have  borne  the 
image  of  His  sufferings,  and  to  us  they  are  the  best 
interpreters  of  His  life.  They  too  have  a  hidden 
strength  which  is  derived  from  communion  with  the 
Unseen ;  they  pass  their  lives  in  the  service  of 
God,  and  yet  only  desire  to  be  thought  unprofitable 
servants.  The  honours  or  praises  which  men  some- 
times shower  upon  them  are  not  much  to  their  taste. 
Their  only  joy  is  to  do  the  will  of  God  and  to 
relieve  the  wants  of  their  brethren.  Their  only 
or  greatest  sorrow  is  to  think  of  the  things  which, 
from  inadvertence  or  necessity,  they  have  been 
compelled  to  leave  undone.  Their  way  of  life  has 
been  simple ;  they  have  not  had  much  to  do  with 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  13 

the  world ;  they  have  not  had  time  to  accumulate 
stores  of  learning.  Sometimes  they  have  seen  with 
superhuman  clearness  one  or  two  truths  of  which 
the  world  was  especially  in  need.  They  may  have 
been  scarcely  known,  or  not  known  until  after  their 
death ;  they  may  have  had  their  trials  too — failing 
health,  declining  years,  the  ingratitude  of  men — but 
they  have  endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible. 
(College  Sermons,  316-7.) 

The  True  Disciple 

*  '  When  others  are  happy,  I  am  happy '  were 
the  words  of  a  poor  paralytic,  for  whom  no  more 
good  was  reserved  in  this  world.  That  is  the 
spirit  of  Christ.  To  place  others  before  ourselves, 
to  think  of  others  and  not  of  ourselves,  to  be  in  the 
world  but  not  of  it,  to  walk  by  faith  and  not  by 
sight,  to  be  able  to  say  c  Nevertheless  not  my  will, 
but  Thine,  be  done ' — these  are  notes  of  the  true 
disciple  of  Christ,  which  we  too  have  been  privi- 
leged to  witness  ;  and  such  examples  have 
strengthened  our  faith  and  supported  our  doubting 
hearts.  '  Sit  mea  anlma  cum  tilts '  has  been  the 
expression  of  the  thought  of  many  a  one  who  has 
asked  no  more  than  that  he  might  be  the  companion 
of  the  righteous  in  life  and  death. 

*He  who  would  imitate  the  teaching  of  Christ 
must  be  simple  and  sincere  in  all  his  words.  He 
need  not  set  forth  his  thoughts  in  rhetorical  style, 
but  he  must  be  what  he  preaches.  He  must  have 
a  strong  hold  of  a  few  first  truths  which  will  be 
interwoven  in  his  life.  He  will  be  very  certain  that 
without  holiness  no  man  can  see  the  Lord;  or, 
as  we  might  express  the  same  thought  in  modern 


14  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

language,  that  without  morality  there  can  be  no  true 
religion.  There  is  nothing  that  he  will  fear  more 
than  hypocrisy.  (Unpublished.) 

What  Christ  says  to  us  now 

An  illustrious  person  not  now  living  is  reported 
to  have  said,  '  If  Jesus  Christ  were  to  come  again 
upon  the  earth,  I  have  often  thought  that  He 
would -have  been  written  down.'  He  could  not 
have  approved  of  many  things  in  our  modern  world, 
and  therefore  the  world  would  probably  have  been 
at  enmity  with  Him.  When  He  heard  of  our 
religious  parties  '  calling  down  fire  from  heaven  on 
each  other,'  must  He  not  have  said  to  them,  'Ye 
know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of '  ?  And 
when  He  saw  that  these  religious  divisions  ex- 
tended to  the  education  of  the  young,  may  we  not 
imagine  Him  to  have  taken  a  little  child,  and  set 
him  in  the  midst  and  asked  whether  we  meant  to 
make  him  the  victim  of  a  religious  dispute  ?  When 
He  was  told  of  another  who  belonged  to  a  different 
persuasion  unlicensed  by  any  regular  authority  going 
about  doing  good,  would  He  have  said  '  Forbid 
him '  ?  Might  He  not  have  been  heard  repeating 
to  those  who  insisted  that  they  could  literally  eat 
His  flesh  and  drink  His  blood,  *  It  is  the  spirit 
that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing  '  ?  Or 
to  those  who  make  casuistical  distinctions  about  the 
meaning  of  words,  or  draw  remote  inferences  from 
them,  would  He  not  have  said  '  Let  your  com- 
munication be  yea,  yea,  and  nay,  nay,'  or  perhaps, 
'Ye  make  void  the  word  of  God  by  your  traditions'  ? 
Or  to  those  who  exaggerate  the  importance  of  days, 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  15 

'  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for 
the  Sabbath '  ?  For  we  can  hardly  suppose  that 
He  who  came  to  destroy  Judaism  would  have 
allowed  Jewish  errors  to  remain  among  Christians. 
Or  when  He  saw  the  value  set  on  times  and  places, 
and  the  pomp  of  outward  ceremonial,  would  He  not 
have  said,  '  The  hour  is  coming  and  now  is,  when 
neither  in  Jerusalem,  nor  in  this  mountain,  men 
shall  worship  the  Father;'  and  'God  is  a  Spirit, 
and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth '  ?  Or  to  a  rich  and  luxurious 
age,  would  He  have  abstained  out  of  delicacy,  or 
any  fear  of  misunderstanding,  from  repeating  the 
parable  of  Lazarus  and  Dives  ?  For  the  words  of 
Christ  necessarily  go  beyond  the  established  ideas 
of  religion,  or  the  forms  of  polite  society;  they 
pierce  like  a  sword  into  all  things.  And  yet  while 
they  go  so  far  beyond  the  received  religious  opinions 
of  Christians  in  some  respects,  there  are  others  in 
which  they  may  seem  to  fall  short  of  them. 

He  would  have  taught  the  new  commandment, 
which  is  also  old — purity  of  tho  ght  as  well  as  of 
word  and  act;  the  not  doing  things  that  we  may 
be  seen  of  men,  or  laying  up  for  ourselves  treasure 
upon  earth ;  the  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
the  forgiveness  of  injuries,  the  love  of  enemies — 
*  that  we  may  be  the  children  of  our  Father  which 
is  in  heaven/  What  !  only  the  Sermon  on  the  , 
Mount !  and  we  verily  thought  that  He  would  have 
spoken  to  us  of  apostolical  succession,  of  baptismal 
regeneration,  of  justification  by  faith  only,  of  final 
assurance,  of  satisfaction  and  atonement ;  or  that 
He  would  have  told  us,  not  that  the  Father  came 
out  and  kissed  the  prodigal  son,  and  fell  upon  his 


16  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

neck  and  wept,  but  that  there  was  one  way,  and 
one  way  only,  by  which  men  could  be  restored  to 
the  favour  of  God,  or  that  He  would  have  wrought 
a  miracle  in  the  face  of  all  men  and  put  an  end  to 
the  controversy  about  them ;  but  He  only  says 
'  There  shall  be  no  sign  given  to  this  generation ' : 
or  that  He  would  have  told  us  plainly  when  we 
asked  Him  about  another  life ;  but  He  only  replies, 
'  In  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage.'  We  thought  that  we  should 
have  been  confirmed  in  those  points  of  faith  or 
practice  in  which  we  differ  from  others,  and  that 
they  would  have  been  condemned  by  Him  ;  that 
we  should  have  heard  from  His  lips  precise  state- 
ments of  doctrines  ;  that  He  would  have  decided 
authoritatively  disputed  points,  saying,  '  Thus  and 
thus  shall  he  think  who  would  be  saved.'  But  He 
puts  us  off  with  parables  about  little  children,  about 
the  wheat  and  the  tares  growing  together,  about  the 
new  wine  and  the  old  bottles,  about  the  wayward 
children  sitting  in  the  market-place,  about  a  house 
divided  against  itself.  Instead  of  answering  our 
questions,  He  asks  others  which  we  cannot  answer. 
The  language  of  theology  seems  never  to  fall  from 
His  lips,  but  only  'Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,'  '  Be  ye  there- 
fore perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 
is  perfect.'  He  goes  back  to  the  first  principles 
of  truth  and  right ;  He  speaks  as  one  having 
authority,  out  of  the  fullness  of  His  nature,  and 
not  like  any  creature  whom  we  ever  heard.  And 
still  when  we  listen  to  His  words,  the  conviction 
is  forced  upon  us,  '  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of 
God,'  (College  Sermons,  68-71.) 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  17 


Life  for  Others,  Life  in  God 

Men  are  for  the  most  part  content  with  them- 
selves if  they  abstain  from  evil  and  do  a  little  good 
in  the  world.  They  never  consider,  or  hardly  ever, 
how  their  whole  lives  might  be  given  up  to  the 
service  of  God  and  their  fellow  creatures.  They 
are  the  creatures  of  habit  and  repute ;  they  do  not 
depart  from  the  customary  ways  of  society.  Nor 
can  we  deny  that  most  of  us  would  be  unequal  to 
this  greater  life,  nor  set  any  limit  to  the  good  which 
may  be  done  by  those  who  sit  still  in  the  house,  who 
scarcely  ever  leave  the  seclusion  of  their  own  village 
or  home.  But  let  us  not  be  ignorant  also  that  there 
is  a  higher  and  nobler  ideal  than  this — the  ideal  of 
a  life  which  is  passed  in  doing  good  to  man;  in 
seeking  to  alleviate  the  miseries  and  inequalities  of 
his  lot,  to  raise  him  out  of  the  moral  and  physical 
degradation  in  which  he  is  sunk,  and  to  implant  in 
him  a  higher  sense  of  truth  and  right.  What  would 
have  become  of  the  world  if  there  had  been  no  such 
teachers  or  saviours  of  mankind  ?  For  the  lower 
are  inspired  by  the  higher,  and  most  of  all  by  the 
highest  of  all.  That  is  what  makes  the  life  of 
Christ  such  a  precious  possession  to  the  world,  not 
merely  the  good  that  He  did  when  on  earth,  in 
teaching  and  consoling  the  afflicted,  but  the  example 
which  He  left  behind  for  all  time  of  another  and 
higher  sort  of  character  such  as  had  never  existed 
before  in  this  world.  To  live  for  others  only,  and 
only  in  the  service  of  God,  to  be  the  mediator 
between  God  and  man,  to  reconcile  the  world  to 
itself — this  is  the  idea  which  Christ  is  always 
c 


1 8  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

setting  before  us,  and  of  which  those  who  are  His 
disciples  must  in  their  measure  seek  to  partake.  .  .  . 

To  this  simple  life  Christ  invites  us ;  to  return 
to  the  beginning  of  Christianity,  now  that  the  world 
has  got  so  far  onward  in  its  course.  He  speaks  to 
us  across  the  ages  still,  telling  us  to  come  back 
to  the  first  principles  of  religion.  And  of  this 
simple  religion  we  have  the  assurance  in  ourselves, 
and  the  better  we  become  the  more  assured  we  are 
of  it.  Who  can  doubt  that  love  is  better  than 
hatred,  truth  than  falsehood,  righteousness  than 
unrighteousness,  holiness  than  impurity  ?  Whatever 
uncertainty  there  may  be  about  the  early  history 
of  Christianity,  there  is  no  uncertainty  about  the 
Christian  life.  Questions  of  criticism  have  been 
raised  concerning  the  Gospels;  there  have  been 
disputes  about  rites  and  ceremonies  ;  whole  systems 
of  theology  have  passed  away :  but  that  which  truly 
constitutes  religion,  that  in  which  good  men  are  like 
one  another,  that  in  which  they  chiefly  resemble 
Christ,  remains  the  same.  And  it  may  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  great  blessings  of  the  age  in  which  we 
live  that,  after  so  many  wanderings  out  of  the  way, 
we  are  at  length  beginning  to  distinguish  the  essential 
from  the  accidental,  and  to  appreciate  more  than 
any  former  age  the  true  meaning  of  the  words  of 
Christ.  .  .  . 

The  highest  and  best  that  we  can  conceive, 
whether  revealed  to  us  in  the  person  of  Christ  or  in 
any  other,  that  is  God.  Because  this  is  relative  to 
our  minds,  and  therefore  necessarily  imperfect,  we 
must  not  cast  it  away  from  us,  or  seek  for  some 
other  unknown  truth  which  can  be  described  only 
by  negatives.  To  such  a  temper  the  words  of  the 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  19 

Prophet  may  be  applied:  'Say  not  in  thine  heart, 
Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven  ?  or,  Who  shall 
descend  into  the  deep  ?  But  the  word  is  very  nigh 
unto  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy  heart.' 
Every  good  thought  in  our  own  mind,  every  good 
man  whom  we  meet,  or  of  whom  we  read  in  former 
ages,  every  great  word  or  action,  is  a  witness  to  us 
of  the  nature  of  God. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  89— 93.) 

The  Lord's  Prayer 

It  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  words 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  are  altogether  new,  or  that 
they  seemed  to  the  disciples  of  Christ  quite  different 
from  anything  which  they  had  ever  heard  before. 
Truth  does  not  descend  from  heaven  like  a  sacred 
stone  dropped  out  of  another  world,  concerning 
which  men  vainly  dispute  what  it  is  or  whence  it 
came.  But  it  is  the  good  word,  the  good  thought, 
the  good  action,  which  arises  in  a  man's  mind ;  as 
the  Apostle  also  says,  'The  word  is  very  nigh  unto 
thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy  heart.'  The 
great  prophet  or  teacher  draws  out  what  is  latent 
in  man,  he  interrogates  their  consciences,  he  finds 
a  witness  in  them  to  the  best.  And,  therefore, 
when  we  are  told  that  parallels  to  all  the  petitions 
contained  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  may  be  found  in 
Rabbinical  writers,  when  we  remark  that  in  Seneca 
and  other  Gentile  philosophers  we  are  exhorted  to 
forgiveness  of  injuries,  when  we  read  in  Epictetus 
the  words,  '  We  have  all  sinned,  some  more,  some 
less  grievously/  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
be  shocked  or  surprised  at  these  parallelisms.  Neither 

C  2 


20  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

is  the  Lord's  Prayer  less  fitted  to  be  the  medium 
of  our  communion  with  God  because  ancient  holy 
men  have  used  several  of  its  petitions  before  the  time 
of  Christ,  as  all  Christians  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
using  them  since.  Are  not  all  true  sayings  and  all 
good  thoughts,  in  all  times  and  in  all  places,  the 
anticipation  of  a  truth  which  is  shining  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  day  ? 

(Sennons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  251.) 

The  World  prepared  for  Christianity 

Spiritual  life,  no  less  than  natural  life,  is  often 
the  very  opposite  of  the  elements  which  seem  to 
give  birth  to  it.  The  preparation  for  the  way  of 
the  Lord,  which  John  the  Baptist  preached,  did 
not  consist  in  a  direct  reference  to  the  Saviour. 
The  words  '  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire,'  and  *  He  shall  burn  up  the 
chaff  with  fire  unquenchable,'  could  have  given  the 
Jews  no  exact  conception  of  Him  who  '  did  not 
break  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking 
flax.'  It  was  in  another  way  that  John  prepared 
for  Christ,  by  quickening  the  moral  sense  of  the 
people,  and  sounding  in  their  ears  the  voice  '  Repent, 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.'  Beyond 
this  useful  lesson,  there  was  a  kind  of  vacancy  in 
the  preaching  of  John.  He  himself,  as  '  he  was 
finishing  his  course,'  testified  that  his  work  was 
incomplete,  and  that  he  was  not  the  Christ.  The 
Jewish  people  were  prepared  by  his  preaching  for 
the  coming  of  Christ,  just  as  an  individual  might 
be  prepared  to  receive  Him  by  the  conviction  of  sin 
and  the  conscious  need  of  forgiveness. 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  21 

Except  from  the  Gospel  history  and  the  writings 
of  Josephus  and  Philo,  we  know  but  little  of  the 
tendencies  of  the  Jewish  mind  in  the  time  of  our 
Lord.  Yet  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  entrance  of 
Christianity  into  the  world  was  not  sudden  and 
abrupt ;  that  is  an  illusion  which  arises  in  the  mind 
from  our  slender  acquaintance  with  contemporary 
opinions.  Better  and  higher  and  holier  as  it  was, 
it  was  not  absolutely  distinct  from  the  teaching  of 
the  doctors  of  the  law  either  in  form  or  substance ; 
it  was  not  unconnected  with,  but  gave  life  and  truth 
to,  the  mystic  fancies  of  Alexandrian  philosophy. 
Even  in  the  counsels  of  perfection  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  there  is  probably  nothing  which  might 
not  be  found,  either  in  letter  or  spirit,  in  Philo  or 
some  other  Jewish  or  Eastern  writer.  The  peculiarity 
of  the  Gospel  is,  not  that  it  teaches  what  is  wholly 
new,  but  that  it  draws  out  of  the  treasure-house  of 
the  human  heart  things  new  and  old,  gathering 
together  in  one  the  dispersed  fragments  of  the  truth. 
The  common  people  would  not  have  '  heard  Him 
gladly,'  but  for  the  truth  of  what  He  said.  The 
heart  was  its  own  witness  to  it.  The  better  nature 
of  man,  though  but  for  a  moment,  responded  to  it, 
spoken  as  it  was  with  authority,  and  not  as  the 
scribes ;  with  simplicity,  and  not  as  the  great 
teachers  of  the  law ;  and  sanctified  by  the  life  and 
actions  of  Him  from  whose  lips  it  came,  and  '  Who 
spake  as  never  man  spake.' 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  IIO-2.) 

The  Ideal  and  the  Real  Christ 

An  ideal  necessarily  mingles  with  all  concep- 
tions of  Christ;  why  then  should  we  object  to 


22  THE  GOSPELS  AND 

a  Christ  who  is  necessarily  ideal  ?  Do  persons 
really  suppose  that  they  know  Christ  as  they  know 
a  living  friend  ?  Is  not  Christ  in  the  Sacrament, 
Christ  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  'Christ  in  you 
the  hope  of  glory/  an  ideal  ?  Have  not  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  from  the  age  of  St.  Paul  onwards 
been  always  idealizing  His  memory  ? 

We  must  accept  the  fact  that  the  life  of  Christ 
is  only  partially  known  to  us,  like  that  of  other 
great  teachers  of  religion.  And  this  is  best  for 
us.  We  have  enough  to  assist  us,  but  not  enough 
to  constrain  us.  And  upon  this  basis  the  thoughts 
of  men  in  many  ages  may  raise  an  ideal  more  per- 
fect than  any  actual  conception  of  Him.  Each  age 
may  add  something  to  the  perfection  and  balance 
of  the  whole.  Did  not  St.  Paul  idealize  Christ  ? 
Do  we  suppose  that  all  which  he  says  of  Him  is 
simply  matter  of  fact,  or  known  to  St.  Paul  as 
such  ?  It  might  have  been  that  the  character  would 
have  been  less  universal  if  we  had  been  able  to  trace 
more  defined  features. 

What  would  have  happened  to  the  world  if 
Christ  had  not  come  ?  What  would  happen  if  He 
were  to  come  again  ?  What  would  have  happened 
if  we  had  perfectly  known  the  words  and  teaching 
of  Christ  ?  How  far  can  we  individualize  Christ, 
or  is  He  only  the  perfect  image  of  humanity  ? 

Instead  of  receiving  Christianity  as  once  given, 
all  mankind  from  the  first  should  have  been  en- 
deavouring to  improve  it,  to  adapt  it  to  the  wants 
of  other  ages,  to  get  rid  of  its  eccentricities  and 
peculiarities.  We  fancy  that  it  came  in  perfection 
from  Christ  and  therefore  are  afraid  to  touch  it. 
But  even  if  we  know  exactly  what  came  from 


THE  LIFE  OF  CHRIST  23 

Christ,  it  is  in  perpetual  process  of  depravation  and 
needs  to  be  restored  ;  it  is  in  process  of  being 
narrowed  and  needs  to  be  enlarged,  or  rather,  in 
any  case,  needs  to  be  enlarged,  if  it  is  to  com- 
prehend the  world.  There  is  a  fallen  Christianity 
if  there  is  a  fallen  man,  and  man  is  always  falling. 

(Life,  ii.  8S.) 


II 

ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION 

The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul 

THE  spiritual  combat,  in  the  seventh  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  terminates  with 
the  words,  '  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  I  thank 
God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,'  is  the 
description,  in  a  figure,  of  the  Apostle's  journey 
to  Damascus.  Almost  in  a  moment  he  passed 
from  darkness  to  light.  Nothing  could  be  more 
different  or  contrasted  than  his  after-life  and  his 
former  life.  In  his  own  language  he  might  be 
described  as  cut  in  two  by  the  sword  of  the  Spirit ; 
his  present  and  previous  states  were  like  good  and 
evil,  light  and  darkness,  life  and  death.  It  accords 
with  what  we  know  of  human  feelings,  that  this 
previous  state  should  have  a  kind  of  terror  for  him, 
and  should  be  presented  to  his  mind,  not  as  it 
appeared  at  the  time  when  he  '  thought,  verily,  that 
he  ought  to  do  many  things  against  Jesus  of 
Nazareth/  but  as  it  afterwards  seemed,  when  he 
counted  himself  to  be  the  least  of  the  Apostles, 
because  twenty  years  before  he  had  persecuted  the 
Church  of  God ;  when  he  was  amazed  at  the 
goodness  of  God  in  rescuing  the  chief  of  sinners. 
The  life  which  he  had  once  led  was  '  the  law.' 


ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION          25 

He  thought  of  it,  indeed,  sometimes  as  the  in- 
spired word,  the  language  of  which  he  was  be- 
ginning to  invest  with  a  new  meaning  ;  but  more 
often  as  an  ideal  form  of  evil,  the  chain  by  which 
he  had  been  bound,  the  prison  in  which  he  was 
shut  up.  And  long  after  his  conversion  the 
shadow  of  the  law  seemed  to  follow  him  at  a 
distance,  and  threatened  to  overcast  his  heaven  ; 
when,  with  a  sort  of  inconsistency  for  one  assured 
of  'the  crown,'  he  speaks  of  the  trouble  of  spirit 
which  overcame  him,  and  of  the  sentence  of  death 
in  himself.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  284-5.) 

Changes  of  Character 

The  gifts  of  God  to  man  have  ever  some  reference 
to  natural  disposition.  He  who  becomes  the  servant 
of  God  does  not  thereby  cease  to  be  himself.  Often 
the  transition  is  greater  in  appearance  than  in  reality, 
from  the  suddenness  of  its  manifestation.  There  is 
a  kind  of  rebellion  against  self  and  nature  and  God, 
which,  through  the  mercy  of  God  to  the  soul, 
seems  almost  necessarily  to  lead  to  reaction.  Persons 
have  been  worse  than  their  fellow  men  in  outward 
appearance,  and  yet  there  was  within  them  the 
spirit  of  a  child  waiting  to  return  home  to  their 
father's  house.  A  change  passes  upon  them  which 
we  may  figure  to  ourselves,  not  only  as  the  new 
man  taking  the  place  of  the  old,  but  as  the  inner 
man  taking  the  place  of  the  outer.  So  complex  is 
human  nature,  that  the  very  opposite  to  what  we 
are  has  often  an  inexpressible  power  over  us.  Con- 
trast is  not  only  a  law  of  association  ;  it  is  also 
a  principle  of  action.  Many  run  from  one  extreme 


26         ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION 

to  another,  from  licentiousness  to  the  ecstasy  of 
religious  feeling,  from  religious  feeling  back  to 
licentiousness,  not  without  a  '  fearful  looking  for 
of  judgement/  If  we  could  trace  the  hidden  work- 
ings of  good  and  evil,  they  would  appear  far  less 
surprising  and  more  natural  than  as  they  are  seen 
by  the  outward  eye.  Our  spiritual  nature  is  with- 
out spring  or  chasm,  but  it  has  a  certain  play  or 
freedom  which  leads  very  often  to  consequences 
the  opposite  of  what  we  expect.  It  seems  in  some 
instances  as  if  the  same  religious  education  had 
tended  to  contrary  results ;  in  one  case  to  a  devout 
life,  in  another  to  a  reaction  against  it;  sometimes 
to  one  form  of  faith,  at  other  times  to  another. 
Many  parents  have  wept  to  see  the  early  religious 
training  of  their  children  draw  them,  by  a  kind 
of  repulsion,  to  a  communion  or  mode  of  opinion 
which  is  the  extreme  opposite  of  that  in  which  they 
have  been  brought  up.  Let  them  have  peace  in 
the  thought  that  it  was  not  always  in  their  power 
to  fulfil  the  duty  in  which  they  seem  to  themselves 
to  have  failed.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  169.) 

The  Temperament  of  Religious  Leaders 

Perhaps  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  concluding, 
that  those  who  have  undergone  great  religious 
changes  have  been  of  a  fervid  imaginative  cast  of 
mind;  looking  for  more  in  this  world  than  it  was 
capable  of  yielding ;  easily  touched  by  the  remem- 
brance of  the  past,  or  inspired  by  some  ideal  of  the 
future.  When  with  this  has  been  combined  a  zeal 
for  the  good  of  their  fellow  men,  they  have  become 
the  heralds  and  champions  of  the  religious  move- 


ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION          27 

ments  of  the  world.  The  change  has  begun  within, 
but  has  overflowed  without  them.  'When  thou 
art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren,'  is  the  order 
of  nature  and  of  grace.  In  secret  they  brood  over 
their  own  state ;  weary  and  profitless  their  soul 
fainteth  within  them.  The  religion  they  profess 
is  a  religion  not  of  life  to  them,  but  of  death ;  they 
lose  their  interest  in  the  world,  and  are  cut  off  from 
the  communion  of  their  fellow  creatures.  While 
they  are  musing,  the  fire  kindles,  and  at  the  last — 
'  they  speak  with  their  tongue/  Then  pours  forth 
irrepressibly  the  pent-up  stream — 'unto  all  and  upon 
all '  their  fellow  men ;  the  intense  flame  of  inward 
enthusiasm  warms  and  lights  up  the  world.  First 
they  are  the  evidence  to  others ;  then,  again,  others 
are  the  evidence  to  them.  All  religious  leaders 
cannot  be  reduced  to  a  single  type  of  character; 
yet  in  all,  perhaps,  two  characteristics  may  be 
observed;  the  first,  great  self-reflection  ;  the  second, 
intense  sympathy  with  other  men.  They  are  not 
the  creatures  of  habit  or  of  circumstances,  leading 
a  blind  life,  unconscious  of  what  they  are ;  their 
whole  effort  is  to  realize  their  inward  nature,  and 
to  make  it  palpable  and  visible  to  their  fellows. 
Unlike  other  men  who  are  confined  to  the  circle 
of  themselves  or  of  their  family,  their  affections 
are  never  straitened ;  they  embrace  with  their  love 
all  men  who  are  like-minded  with  them,  almost  all 
men  too  who  are  unlike  them,  in  the  hope  that  they 
may  become  like. 

Such  men  have  generally  appeared  at  favourable 
conjunctures  of  circumstances,  when  the  old  was 
about  to  vanish  away,  and  the  new  to  appear.  The 
world  has  yearned  towards  them,  and  they  towards 


28         ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION 

the  world.  They  have  uttered  what  all  men  were 
feeling ;  they  have  interpreted  the  age  to  itself. 
But  for  the  concurrence  of  circumstances,  they 
might  have  been  stranded  on  the  solitary  shore, 
they  might  have  died  without  a  follower  or  convert. 
But  when  the  world  has  needed  them,  and  God 
has  intended  them  for  the  world,  they  are  endued 
with  power  from  on  high  ;  they  use  all  other  men  as 
their  instruments,  uniting  them  to  themselves. 

Often  such  men  have  been  brought  up  in  the 
faith  which  they  afterwards  oppose,  and  a  part  of 
their  power  has  consisted  in  their  acquaintance  with 
the  enemy.  They  see  other  men,  like  themselves 
formerly,  wandering  out  of  the  way  in  the  idol's 
temple,  amid  a  burdensome  ceremonial,  with  prayers 
and  sacrifices  unable  to  free  the  soul.  They  lead 
them  by  the  way  themselves  came  to  the  home  of 
Christ.  Sometimes  they  represent  the  new  as  the 
truth  of  the  old ;  at  other  times  as  contrasted  with 
it,  as  life  and  death,  as  good  and  evil,  as  Christ 
and  anti-Christ.  They  relax  the  force  of  habit, 
they  melt  the  pride  and  fanaticism  of  the  soul. 
They  suggest  to  others  their  own  doubts,  they 
inspire  them  with  their  own  hopes,  they  supply 
their  own  motives,  they  draw  men  to  them  with 
cords  of  sympathy  and  bonds  of  love ;  they  them- 
selves seem  a  sufficient  stay  to  support  the  world. 
Such  was  Luther  at  the  Reformation ;  such,  in 
a  higher  sense,  was  the  Apostle  St.  Paul. 

There  have  been  heroes  in  the  world,  and  there 
have  been  prophets  in  the  world.  The  first  may 
be  divided  into  two  classes ;  either  they  have  been 
men  of  strong  will  and  character,  or  of  great  power 
and  range  of  intellect ;  in  a  few  instances,  com- 


ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION         29 

bining  both.  They  have  been  the  natural  leaders 
of  mankind,  compelling  others  by  their  acknowledged 
superiority  as  rulers  and  generals ;  or  in  the  paths 
of  science  and  philosophy,  drawing  the  world  after 
them  by  a  yet  more  inevitable  necessity.  The 
prophet  belongs  to  another  order  of  beings :  he 
does  not  master  his  thoughts ;  they  carry  him 
away.  He  does  not  see  clearly  into  the  laws  of 
this  world  or  the  affairs  of  this  world,  but  has  a 
light  beyond,  which  reveals  them  partially  in  their 
relation  to  another.  Often  he  seems  to  be  at  once 
both  the  weakest  and  the  strongest  of  men ;  the 
first  to  yield  to  his  own  impulses,  the  mightiest 
to  arouse  them  in  others.  Calmness,  or  reason, 
or  philosophy  are  not  the  words  which  describe 
the  appeals  which  he  makes  to  the  hearts  of  men. 
He  sways  them  to  and  fro  rather  than  governs  or 
controls  them.  He  is  a  poet,  and  more  than 
a  poet,  the  inspired  teacher  of  mankind;  but  the 
intellectual  gifts  which  he  possesses  are  independent 
of  knowledge,  or  learning,  or  capacity;  what  they 
are  much  more  akin  to  is  the  fire  and  subtlety  of 
genius.  He,  too,  for  a  time,  has  ruled  kingdoms 
and  even  led  armies ;  '  an  Apostle,  not  of  man,  nor 
by  men ; '  acting,  not  by  authority  or  commission 
of  any  prince,  but  by  an  immediate  inspiration  from 
on  high,  communicating  itself  to  the  hearts  of  men. 
(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  170-2.) 

The  Thorn  in  the  Flesh 

There  have  been  those  who,  although  deformed 
by  nature,  have  worn  the  expression  of  a  calm  and 
heavenly  beauty ;  in  whom  the  flashing  eye  has 
attested  the  presence  of  thought  in  the  poor  withered 


30         ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION 

and  palsied  frame.  There  have  been  others,  again, 
who  have  passed  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in 
extreme  bodily  suffering,  who  have,  nevertheless, 
directed  states  or  led  armies,  the  keenness  of  whose 
intellect  has  not  been  dulled  nor  their  natural  force 
of  mind  abated.  There  have  been  those  also  on 
whose  faces  men  have  gazed  (  as  upon  the  face  of 
an  angel/  while  they  pierced  or  stoned  them.  Of 
such  an  one,  perhaps,  the  Apostle  himself  might 
have  gloried ;  not  of  those  whom  men  term  great 
or  noble.  He  who  felt  the  whole  creation  groaning 
and  travailing  together  until  now  was  not  like  the 
Greek  drinking  in  the  life  of  nature  at  every  pore. 
He  who  through  Christ  was  '  crucified  to  the  world, 
and  the  world  to  him,'  was  not  in  harmony  with 
nature,  nor  nature  with  him.  The  manly  form, 
the  erect  step,  the  fullness  of  life  and  beauty,  could 
not  have  gone  along  with  such  a  consciousness  as 
this,  any  more  than  the  taste  for  literature  and  art 
could  have  consisted  with  the  thought,  '  not  many 
wise,  not  many  learned,  not  many  mighty.'  Instead 
of  these  we  have  the  visage  marred  more  than  the 
sons  of  men,  '  the  Cross  of  Christ  which  was  to 
the  Greeks  foolishness/  the  thorn  in  the  flesh,  the 
marks  in  the  body  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  177.) 

Knowledge  of  Mankind  based  on  Love 

Mysticism,  or  enthusiasm,  or  intense  benevolence 
and  philanthropy,  seem  to  us,  as  they  commonly 
are,  at  variance  with  worldly  prudence  and  modera- 
tion. But  in  the  Apostle  these  different  and 
contrasted  qualities  are  mingled  and  harmonized. 


ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION         31 

The  mother  watching  over  the  life  of  her  child 
has  all  her  faculties  aroused  and  stimulated;  she 
knows  almost  by  instinct  how  to  say  or  to  do  the 
right  thing  at  the  right  time  ;  she  regards  his  faults 
with  mingled  love  and  sorrow.  So,  in  the  Apostle, 
we  seem  to  trace  a  sort  of  refinement  or  nicety  of 
feeling,  when  he  is  dealing  with  the  souls  of  men. 
All  his  knowledge  of  mankind  shows  itself  for  their 
sakes ;  and  yet  not  that  knowledge  of  mankind 
which  comes  from  without,  revealing  itself  by  ex- 
perience of  men  and  manners,  by  taking  a  part 
in  events,  by  the  insensible  course  of  years  making 
us  learn  from  what  we  have  seen  and  suffered. 
There  is  another  experience  that  comes  from  within, 
which  begins  with  the  knowledge  of  self,  with  the 
consciousness  of  our  own  weakness  and  infirmities ; 
which  is  continued  in  love  to  others  and  in  works 
of  good  to  them ;  which  grows  by  singleness  and 
simplicity  of  heart.  Love  becomes  the  interpreter 
of  how  men  think,  and  feel,  and  act ;  and  supplies 
the  place  of,  or  passes  into  a  worldly  prudence 
wiser  than,  the  prudence  of  this  world.  Such  is 
the  worldly  prudence  of  St.  Paul. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  179.) 

Strength  out  of  Weakness 

The  language  of  the  Epistles  often  exercises 
an  illusion  on  our  minds  when  thinking  of  the 
primitive  Church ;  individuals  perhaps  there  were 
who  truly  partook  of  that  light  with  which  the 
Apostle  encircled  them ;  there  may  have  been  those 
in  the  Churches  of  Corinth,  or  Ephesus,  or  Galatia, 
who  were  living  on  earth  the  life  of  heaven.  But 


32         ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION 

the  ideal  which  fills  the  Apostle's  mind  has  not, 
necessarily,  a  corresponding  fact  in  the  actual  state 
of  his  converts.  The  beloved  family  of  the  Apostle, 
the  Church  of  which  such  'glorious  things  are 
told/  is  often  in  tumult  and  disorder.  His  love 
is  constantly  a  source  of  pain  to  him  :  he  watches 
over  them  'with  a  godly  jealousy,'  and  finds  them 
'  affecting  others  rather  than  himself.'  They  are 
always  liable  to  be  '  spoiled '  by  some  vanity  of 
philosophy,  some  remembrance  of  Judaism,  which, 
like  an  epidemic,  carries  off  whole  Churches  at 
once,  and  seems  to  exercise  a  fatal  power  over 
them.  He  is  a  father  harrowed  and  agonized  in 
his  feelings ;  he  loves  more  and  suffers  more  than 
other  men ;  he  will  not  think,  he  cannot  help 
thinking,  of  the  ingratitude  and  insolence  of  his 
children  ;  he  tries  to  believe,  he  is  persuaded,  that 
all  is  well ;  he  denounces,  he  forgives ;  he  defends 
himself,  he  is  ashamed  of  defending  himself;  he  is 
the  herald  of  his  own  deeds  when  others  neglect 
or  injure  him  ;  he  is  ashamed  of  this,  too,  and 
retires  into  himself,  to  be  at  peace  with  Christ  and 
God.  So  we  seem  to  read  the  course  of  the 
Apostle's  thoughts  in  more  than  one  passage  of 
his  writings,  beginning  with  the  heavenly  ideal, 
and  descending  to  the  painful  realities  of  actual  life, 
especially  at  the  close  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians — altogether,  perhaps,  the  most  character- 
istic picture  of  the  Apostle's  mind ;  and  in  the  last 
words  to  the  Galatians,  '  Henceforth  let  no  man 
trouble  me,  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.' 

Great  men   (those,  at  least,  who  present  to  us 
the  type  of  earthly  greatness)  are  sometimes  said 


ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION          33 

to  possess  the  power  of  command,  but  not  the 
power  of  entering  into  the  feelings  of  others.  They 
have  no  fear  of  their  fellows,  they  are  not  affected 
by  their  opinions  or  prejudices,  but  neither  are  they 
always  capable  of  immediately  impressing  them,  or 
of  perceiving  the  impression  which  their  words 
or  actions  make  upon  them.  Often  they  live  in 
a  kind  of  solitude  on  which  other  men  do  not 
venture  to  intrude ;  putting  forth  their  strength  on 
particular  occasions,  careless  or  abstracted  about  the 
daily  concerns  of  life.  Such  was  not  the  greatness 
of  the  Apostle  St.  Paul ;  not  only  in  the  sense  in 
which  he  says  that  '  he  could  do  all  things  through 
Christ,'  but  in  a  more  earthly  and  human  one,  was 
it  true,  that  his  strength  was  his  weakness  and  his 
weakness  his  strength.  His  dependence  on  others 
was  also  the  source  of  his  influence  over  them. 
His  natural  character  was  the  type  of  that  com- 
munion of  the  Spirit  which  he  preached ;  the 
meanness  of  appearance  which  he  attributes  to 
himself,  the  image  of  that  contrast  which  the 
Gospel  presents  to  human  greatness.  Glorying 
and  humiliation ;  life  and  death ;  a  vision  of  angels 
strengthening  him,  the  '  thorn  in  the  flesh '  rebuking 
him ;  the  greatest  tenderness,  not  without  stern- 
ness; sorrows  above  measure,  consolations  above 
measure,  are  some  of  the  contradictions  which 
were  reconciled  in  the  same  man.  It  is  not  a  long 
life  of  ministerial  success  on  which  he  is  looking 
back  a  little  before  his  death,  where  he  says, 
'  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my 
course,  I  have  kept  the  faith.'  These  words  are 
sadly  illustrated  by  another  verse  of  the  same 
Epistle,  'This  thou  knowest,  that  all  they  which 


34         ST.  PAUL  AND  HIS  MISSION 

are  in  Asia  be  turned  away  from  me '  (2  Tim. 
i.  15).  So  when  the  contrast  was  at  its  height, 
he  passed  away,  rejoicing  in  persecution  also,  and 
6  filling  up  that  which  was  behind  of  the  afflictions 
of  Christ  for  his  body's  sake.'  Many,  if  not  most, 
of  his  followers  had  forsaken  him,  and  there  is  no 
certain  memorial  of  the  manner  of  his  death. 

Let  us  look  once  more  a  little  closer  at  that 
'visage  marred'  in  his  Master's  service,  as  it  ap- 
peared about  three  years  before  on  a  well-known 
scene.  A  poor  aged  man,  worn  by  some  bodily 
or  mental  disorder,  who  had  been  often  scourged, 
and  bore  on  his  face  the  traces  of  indignity  and 
sorrow  in  every  form — such  an  one,  led  out  of 
prison  between  Roman  soldiers,  probably  at  times 
faltering  in  his  utterance,  the  creature,  as  he  seemed 
to  spectators,  of  nervous  sensibility;  yearning,  al- 
most with  a  sort  of  fondness,  to  save  the  souls 
of  those  whom  he  saw  around  him — spoke  a  few 
eloquent  words  in  the  cause  of  Christian  truth,  at 
which  kings  were  awed,  telling  the  tale  of  his  own 
conversion  with  such  simple  pathos,  that  after- ages 
have  hardly  heard  the  like. 

Such  is  the  image,  not  which  Christian  art  has 
delighted  to  consecrate,  but  which  the  Apostle 
has  left  in  his  own  writings  of  himself;  an  image 
of  true  wisdom,  and  nobleness,  and  affection,  but 
of  a  wisdom  unlike  the  wisdom  of  this  world ;  of 
a  nobleness  which  must  not  be  transformed  into 
that  of  the  heroes  of  the  world ;  an  affection  which 
seemed  to  be  as  strong  and  as  individual  towards 
all  mankind,  as  other  men  are  capable  of  feeling 
towards  a  single  person. 

(The  Epistks  of  St.  Paul,  i.  181-4.) 


Ill 

PROPHECY 

Old  Testament  Chronology 

IT  were  much  to  be  wished  that  we  could  agree 
upon  a  chronological  arrangement  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  would  approach  more  nearly  to  the  true 
order  in  which  the  books  were  written,  than  that  in 
which  they  have  been  handed  down  to  us.  Such 
an  arrangement  would  throw  great  light  on  the 
interpretation  of  prophecy.  At  present,  we  scarcely 
resist  the  illusion  exercised  upon  our  minds  by  '  four 
prophets  the  greater,  followed  by  twelve  prophets 
the  less ' ;  some  of  the  latter  being  of  a  prior  date 
to  any  of  the  former.  Even  the  distinction  of  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets  as  well  as  of  the  Psalms  and 
the  Prophets  leads  indirectly  to  a  similar  error.  For 
many  elements  of  the  prophetical  spirit  enter  into 
the  Daw,  and  legal  precepts  are  repeated  by  the 
Prophets.  The  continuity  of  Jewish  history  is 
further  broken  by  the  Apocrypha.  The  four  cen- 
turies before  Christ  were  as  fruitful  of  hopes  and 
struggles  and  changes  of  thought  and  feeling  in  the 
Jewish  people  as  any  preceding  period  of  their 
existence  as  a  nation,  perhaps  more  so.  And  yet 
we  piece  together  the  Old  and  New  Testament  as  if 
D  2 


36  PROPHECY 

the  interval  were  blank  leaves  only.  Few,  if  any, 
English  writers  have  ever  attempted  to  form  a  con- 
ception of  the  growth  of  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
from  its  first  beginnings  in  the  Law  itself,  as  it  may 
be  traced  in  the  lives  and  characters  of  Samuel 
and  David,  and  above  all,  of  Elijah  and  his  im- 
mediate successor  ;  as  it  reappears  a  few  years  later, 
in  the  written  prophecies  respecting  the  house  of 
Israel,  and  the  surrounding  nations  (not  even  in  the 
oldest  of  the  prophets,  without  reference  to  Messiah's 
kingdom) ;  or  again  after  the  carrying  away  of  the 
ten  tribes,  as  it  concentrates  itself  in  Judah,  uttering 
a  sadder  and  more  mournful  cry  in  the  hour  of 
captivity,  yet  in  the  multitude  of  sorrows  increasing 
the  comfort;  the  very  dispersion  of  the  people 
widening  the  prospect  of  Christ's  kingdom,  as  the 
nation  'is  cut  short  in  righteousness,'  God  being 
so  much  the  nearer  to  those  who  draw  near  to  Him. 
(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  134-5.) 

Transition  from  the  Nation  to  the  Individual 

In  the  earlier  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
whole  people  is  bound  up  together  for  good  or 
for  evil.  In  the  Law  especially,  there  is  no  trace 
that  particular  tribes  or  individuals  are  to  be  singled 
out  for  the  favour  of  God.  Even  their  great  men 
are  not  so  much  individuals  as  representatives  of  the 
whole  people.  They  serve  God  as  a  nation ;  as 
a  nation  they  go  astray.  If,  in  the  earlier  times 
of  Jewish  history,  we  suppose  an  individual  good 
man  living  '  amid  an  adulterous  and  crooked  genera- 
tion,' we  can  scarcely  imagine  the  relation  in  which 
he  would  stand  to  the  blessings  and  cursings  of  the 


PROPHECY  37 

Law.  Would  the  righteous  perish  with  the  wicked  ? 
'  That  be  far  from  thee,  O  Lord.'  Yet  '  prosperity, 
the  blessing  of  the  Old  Testament/  was  bound  up 
with  the  existence  of  the  nation.  Gradually  the 
germ  of  the  new  dispensation  begins  to  unfold  itself; 
the  bands  which  held  the  nation  together  are  broken 
in  pieces;  a  fragment  only  is  preserved,  a  branch, 
in  the  Apostle's  language,  cut  off  from  the  patriarchal 
stem,  to  be  the  beginning  of  another  Israel. 

The  passage  quoted  by  St.  Paul  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Romans  is  the  first  indication  of  this 
change  in  God's  mode  of  dealing  with  His  people. 
The  prophet  Elijah  wanders  forth  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  lay  before  the  Lord  the  iniquities  of  the 
people :  '  The  children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  Thy 
covenant,  thrown  down  Thine  altars,  and  slain  Thy 
prophets  with  the  sword.'  'But  what,'  we  may 
ask  with  the  Apostle,  '  saith  the  answer  of  God  to 
him  ? '  Not  '  They  are  corrupt,  they  are  altogether 
become  abominable,'  but  '  Yet  I  have  seven  thousand 
men  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.'  The 
whole  people  were  not  to  be  regarded  as  one ;  there 
were  a  few  who  still  preserved,  amid  the  general 
corruption,  the  worship  of  the  true  God. 

The  marked  manner  in  which  the  answer  of  God 
is  introduced,  the  contrast  of  the  '  still  small  voice ' 
with  the  thunder,  the  storm,  and  the  earthquake, 
the  natural  symbols  of  the  presence  of  God  in  the 
Law — the  contradiction  of  the  words  spoken  to  the 
natural  bent  of  the  Prophet's  mind,  and  the  greatness 
of  Elijah's  own  character — all  tend  to  stamp  this 
passage  as  marking  one  of  the  epochs  of  prophecy. 
The  solitude  of  the  Prophet  and  his  separation  in 
'  the  mount  of  God,'  from  the  places  in  which  '  men 


38  PROPHECY 

ought  to  worship/  are  not  without  meaning.  There 
had  not  always  'been  this  proverb  in  the  house  of 
Israel ' ;  but  from  this  time  onwards  it  is  repeated 
again  and  again.  We  trace  the  thought  of  a  remnant 
to  be  saved  in  captivity,  or  to  return  from  captivity, 
through  a  long  succession  of  prophecies — Hosea, 
Amos,  Micah,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel ; — it  is  the 
text  of  almost  all  the  Prophets,  passing,  as  a  familiar 
word,  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New.  The 
voice  uttered  to  Elijah  was  the  beginning  of  this 
new  Revelation. 

Coincident  with  the  promise  of  a  remnant  is  the 
precept,  '  I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice/  which, 
in  modern  language,  opposes  the  moral  to  the  cere- 
monial law.  It  is  another  and  the  greatest  step 
onward  towards  the  spiritual  dispensation.  Moral 
and  religious  truths  hang  together ;  no  one  can  admit 
one  of  them  in  the  highest  sense,  without  admitting 
a  principle  which  involves  the  rest.  He  who 
acknowledged  that  God  was  a  God  of  mercy  and  not 
of  sacrifice,  could  not  long  have  supposed  that  He 
dealt  with  nations  only,  or  that  He  raised  men  up 
for  no  other  end  but  to  be  vessels  of  His  wrath 
or  monuments  of  His  vengeance.  For  a  time  there 
might  be  '  things  too  hard  for  him,'  clouds  resting 
on  his  earthly  tabernacle,  when  he  '  saw  the  ungodly 
in  such  prosperity ' ;  yet  had  he  knowledge  enough, 
as  he  '  went  into  the  sanctuary  of  God/  and  con- 
fessed himself  to  be  'a  stranger  and  pilgrim  upon 
the  earth.' 

It  is  in  the  later  Prophets  that  the  darkness  begins 
to  be  dispelled  and  the  ways  of  God  justified  to 
man.  Ezekiel  is  above  all  others  the  teacher  of 
this  'new  commandment.'  The  familiar  words, 


PROPHECY  39 

'  When  the  wicked  man  turneth  away  from  his 
wickedness,  and  doeth  that  which  is  lawful  and 
right,  he  shall  save  his  soul  alive,'  are  the  theme 
of  a  great  part  of  this  wonderful  book.  Other 
Prophets  have  more  of  poetical  beauty,  a  deeper  sense 
of  Divine  things,  a  tenderer  feeling  of  the  mercies 
of  God  to  His  people  ;  none  teach  so  simply  this 
great  moral  lesson,  to  us  the  first  of  all  lessons.  On 
the  eve  of  the  captivity,  and  in  the  midst  of  it,  when 
the  hour  of  mercy  is  past,  and  no  image  is  too 
loathsome  to  describe  the  iniquities  of  Israel,  still 
the  Prophet  does  not  forget  that  the  Lord  will  not 
destroy  the  righteous  with  the  wicked :  '  Though 
Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job  were  in  the  land,  as  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord,  they  shall  deliver  neither  son  nor 
daughter ;  they  shall  deliver  but  their  own  souls  by 
their  righteousness  '  (xiv.  20).  '  Yet,  behold,  therein 
shall  be  left  a  remnant ;  and  they  shall  know  that 
I  have  not  done  without  cause  all  that  I  have  done, 
saith  the  Lord'  (ver.  22,  23). 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  148-50.) 

The  Prophets  and  the  New  Dispensation 

Every  saviour  or  helper  of  mankind  has  a  time  of 
suffering  as  well  as  of  glory,  a  time  in  which  God 
seems  to  have  forsaken  him,  and  the  meanness  or 
the  indifference  or  the  wickedness  of  mankind  are 
too  much  for  him,  and  a  time  when  the  multitude 
cry  '  Hosanna '  before  him,  or  he  himself  in  his  own 
inmost  soul  has  a  more  present  vision  of  a  kingdom 
not  of  this  world.  This  double  thread  runs  alike 
through  the  Prophets  and  the  Gospels.  Only  what 
is  more  outward  and  visible  in  the  Old  Testament 


40  PROPHECY 

becomes  more  inward  and  spiritual  in  the  New. 
The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  the  conversion  of 
surrounding  nations  or  the  subjugation  of  them  to 
the  God  of  Israel,  but  'the  kingdom  of  God  is 
within  you.'  There,  in  the  heart  of  man,  its 
struggle  is  to  be  maintained,  its  victory  won.  It 
does  not  seek  to  incorporate  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  but  is  rather  in  antagonism  with  them.  The 
faithful  believer  feels  the  dead  weight  of  sin  and  of 
the  world,  but  in  himself  and  in  relation  to  God  he 
is  free  and  lord  of  all  things.  Take  as  the  highest 
expression  of  what  I  am  saying  the  remarkable 
words  of  St.  Paul  in  2  Cor.  vi :  '  As  deceivers  and 
yet  true,  as  unknown  and  yet  well  known,  as  dying 
and  behold  we  live,  as  sorrowful  yet  always  rejoic- 
ing, as  having  nothing  and  yet  possessing  all  things/ 
Or,  again,  the  description  of  the  spiritual  conflict  in 
Rom.  vii :  '  The  good  that  I  would  I  do  not :  but 
the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do. .  .  .  O  wretched 
man  that  I  am  !  ...  I  thank  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.' 

Of  this  spiritual  conflict  there  is  no  trace  in  the 
Prophets.  Neither  do  they  ever  speak  of  God 
taking  up, His  abode  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Their 
relation  to  Him  is  an  external  one  like  that  of 
subjects  to  a  king.  They  see  Him  sitting  on 
a  throne  high  and  lifted  up.  They  cannot  be  said 
to  reconcile  God  to  man,  or  to  bridge  the  chasm 
which  separates  them.  He  is  the  Sun  of  their  life, 
and  they  seem  to  fear  that  when  their  breath  passes 
away  the  sunshine  in  which*  they  have  lived  may  be 
withdrawn  from  them.  They  utter  His  commands; 
occasionally,  awake  or  in  a  dream,  they  hear  His 
voice  ;  but  they  do  not  hold  communion  with  Him. 


PROPHECY  41 

He  is  clothed  in  the  greatness  of  nature,  which  like 
the  cherubim  veils  His  face  from  them.  He  is 
still  the  God  of  the  Jewish  race,  though  in  the 
distance  the  Prophet  sees  that  other  races  will  begin, 
or  are  beginning,  to  partake  of  the  mercies  granted 
to  the  Israelites.  The  misery  and  evil  of  the  people 
are  present ;  and  they  are  already  experiencing  the 
just  judgements  of  God.  But  the  hope  of  good 
is  future — in  those  days,  in  the  latter  days,  at  some 
unknown  and  distant  time ;  whereas  in  the  New 
Testament  the  good  is  present  and  immediate ; 
within  the  reach  of  every  one,  if  he  will  renounce 
himself  and  follow  Christ.  For  these  are  t  the  latter 
days,'  and  'this  day  is  the  Scripture  fulfilled  in 
your  ears.' 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  81—3.) 

The  Language  of  the  Old  Testament 

The  religious  ideas  of  one  age  require  to  be 
translated  into  the  religious  ideas  of  another.  The 
religious  thoughts  of  one  age  may  become  the  feel- 
ings of  another ;  the  religious  truth  of  one  age  may 
become  the  religious  poetry  of  another.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  Old  Testament  is  personal  and  individual, 
speaking  heart  to  heart  as  one  man  speaks  to  another, 
telling  of  a  God  who  is  indeed  always  described  by 
the  Psalmist  or  Prophet  as  the  God  of  justice  and 
of  truth,  and  yet  asserts  His  despotic  power  to  pull 
down  one  man  and  put  up  another.  And  here  the 
error  of  which  I  was  speaking  is  liable  to  creep  in. 
For  some  of  this  language  might  lead  us  to  suppose 
that  God,  like  men,  has  His  favourites,  that  He 
prefers  one  man  or  one  nation  to  another,  that 


42  PROPHECY 

He  encourages  one  undertaking  and  throws  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  another.  Ages  upon  ages  pass  away 
before  men  attain  even  to  that  degree  of  clearness 
in  their  ideas  of  God  of  which  the  human  mind 
is  really  capable.  And  I  think  that  we  must 
recognize  that  the  Hebrew  Prophets  and  Psalmists 
do  present  to  us  an  imperfect  and  partial  conception 
of  the  Divine  Nature  compared  with  that  which 
our  own  hearts  and  consciences,  enlightened  by 
Christianity  and  the  study  of  history  and  nature, 
give  us  in  the  present  day.  There  must  be  a  silent 
correction  of  the  familiar  words  of  the  Psalmist 
when  we  use  them,  if  they  are  to  express  the  truth 
for  us.  For  we  know  that  God  is  not  sitting,  as 
He  is  represented  in  some  pictures,  on  the  circle  of 
the  heavens,  but  that  His  temple  is  the  heart  of 
man;  we  know  that  He  is  not  the  God  of  one 
nation  only,  but  of  all  mankind ;  we  know  that  God 
helps  those  who  help  themselves.  Except  men 
build  the  house,  the  Lord  will  not  build  it;  except 
the  watchmen  keep  guard  in  the  city,  the  Lord  will 
not  guard  it.  In  everything  the  means  are  to  be 
taken  first,  the  laws  of  nature  are  to  be  studied  and 
consulted : — then,  and  only  then,  the  blessing  of 
God  follows  us,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  Psalmist, 
'the  Lord  prospers  our  handiwork.' 

(College  Sermons,  42—4.) 

The  Twofold  Lesson  of  Goodness  and 
Severity 

In  these  'terrors  of  the  day  of  the  Lord,'  of 
which  the  Prophets  speak,  the  fortunes  of  the  Jewish 
people  mingle  with  another  vision  of  a  more  universal 


PROPHECY  43 

judgement,  and  it  has  been  usual  to  have  recourse 
to  the  double  senses  of  prophecy  to  separate  the  one 
from  the  other,  an  instrument  of  interpretation  which 
has  also  been  applied  to  the  New  Testament  for  the 
same  purpose.  Not  in  this  way  could  the  Prophet 
or  Apostle  themselves  have  conceived  them.  To 
them  they  were  not  two,  but  one ;  not  '  double  one 
against  the  other,'  or  separable  into  the  figure  and 
the  thing  signified.  For  the  figure  is  in  early  ages 
the  mode  of  conception  also.  More  true  would  it 
be  to  say  that  the  judgements  of  God  on  the  Jewish 
people  were  an  anticipation  or  illustration  of  His 
dealings  with  the  world  generally.  If  a  separation 
is  made  at  all,  let  us  rather  separate  the  accidents 
of  time  and  place  from  that  burning  sense  of  the 
righteousness  of  God,  which,  somewhere  we  cannot 
tell  where,  at  some  time  we  cannot  tell  when,  must 
and  will  have  retribution  on  evil ;  which  has  this 
other  note  of  its  Divine  character,  that  in  judgement 
it  remembers  mercy,  pronouncing  no  endless  penalty 
or  irreversible  doom,  even  upon  the  house  of  Israel. 
This  twofold  lesson  of  goodness  and  severity  speaks 
to  us  as  well  as  to  the  Jews.  Better  still  to  receive 
the  words  of  prophecy  as  we  have  them,  and  to 
allow  the  feeling  which  it  utters  to  find  its  way 
to  our  hearts,  without  stopping  to  mark  out  what 
was  not  separated  in  the  Prophet's  own  mind  and 
cannot  therefore  be  divided  by  us. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  141-2.) 

Use  and  Misuse  of  Prophecy 

The  fulfilment  of  prophecy  has  been  sought  for 
in   a  series  of  events  which  have  been  sometimes 


44  PROPHECY 

bent  to  make  them  fit,  and  one  series  of  events  has 
frequently  taken  the  place  of  another.  Even  the 
passing  circumstances  of  to-day  or  yesterday,  at  the 
distance  of  about  two  thousand  years,  and  as  many 
miles,  which  are  but  shadows  flitting  on  the  moun- 
tains compared  with  the  deeper  foundations  of  human 
history,  are  thought  to  be  within  the  range  of  the 
Prophet's  eye.  And  it  may  be  feared  that,  in 
attempting  to  establish  a  claim  which,  if  it  could  be 
proved,  might  be  made  also  for  heathen  oracles  and 
prophecies,  commentators  have  sometimes  lost  sight 
of  those  great  characteristics  which  distinguish 
Hebrew  prophecy  from  all  other  professing  revelations 
of  other  religions  :  (i)  the  sense  of  the  truthfulness, 
and  holiness,  and  loving-kindness  of  the  Divine 
Being,  with  which  the  Prophet  is  as  one  possessed, 
which  he  can  no  more  forget  or  doubt  than  he  can 
cease  to  be  himself;  (2)  their  growth,  that  is,  their 
growing  perception  of  the  moral  nature  of  the  re- 
velation of  God  to  man,  apart  from  the  command- 
ments of  the  law  or  the  privileges  of  the  house  of 
Israel.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  135.) 

The  Development  of  Prophecy 

The  truth  of  God  comes  into  contact  with  the 
world,  clothing  itself  in  human  feelings,  revealing 
the  lesson  of  historical  events.  But  human  feelings 
and  the  lesson  of  events  vary,  and  in  this  sense  the 
prophetic  lesson  varies  too.  Even  in  the  workings 
of  our  own  minds  we  may  perceive  this  ;  those  who 
think  much  about  themselves  and  God  cannot  but 
be  conscious  of  great  changes  and  transitions  of 
feeling  at  different  periods  of  life.  We  are  the 


PROPHECY  45 

creatures  of  impressions  and  associations;  and  al- 
though Providence  has  not  made  our  knowledge 
of  himself  dependent  on  these  impressions,  He  has 
allowed  it  to  be  coloured  by  them.  We  cannot 
say  that  in  the  hours  of  prosperity  and  adversity, 
in  health  and  sickness,  in  poverty  and  wealth,  our 
sense  of  God's  dealings  with  us  is  absolutely  the 
same ;  still  less,  that  all  our  prayers  and  aspirations 
have  received  the  answer  that  we  wished  or  expected. 
And  sometimes  the  thoughts  of  our  own  hearts  go 
before  to  God;  at  other  times,  the  power  of  God 
seems  to  anticipate  the  thoughts  of  our  hearts. 
And  sometimes,  in  looking  back  at  our  past  lives, 
it  seems  as  if  God  had  done  everything ;  at  other 
times,  we  are  conscious  of  the  movement  of  our 
own  will.  The  wide  world  itself  also,  and  the 
political  fortunes  of  our  country,  have  been  en- 
veloped in  the  light  or  darkness  which  rested  on 
our  individual  soul. 

Especially  are  we  liable  to  look  at  religious  truth 
under  many  aspects,  if  we  live  amid  changes  of 
religious  opinions,  or  are  witnesses  of  some  revival 
or  reaction  in  religion,  or  supposing  our  lot  to  be 
cast  in  critical  periods  of  history,  such  as  extend 
the  range  and  powers  of  human  nature,  or  certainly 
enlarge  our  experience  of  it.  Then  the  germs  of 
new  truths  will  subsist  side  by  side  with  the  remains 
of  old  ones ;  and  thoughts,  that  are  really  incon- 
sistent, will  have  a  place  together  in  our  minds, 
without  our  being  able  to  perceive  their  inconsistency. 
The  inconsistency  will  be  traced  by  posterity ;  they 
will  remark  that  up  to  a  particular  point  we  saw 
clearly;  but  that  no  man  is  beyond  his  age — there 
was  a  circle  which  we  could  not  pass.  And  some 


46  PROPHECY 

one  living  in  our  own  day  may  look  into  the  future 
with  '  eagle  eye  ' ;  he  may  weigh  and  balance  with 
a  sort  of  omniscience  the  moral  forces  of  the  world, 
perhaps  with  something  too  much  of  confidence  that 
the  right  will  ultimately  prevail  even  on  earth ;  and 
after  ages  may  observe  that  his  predictions  were 
not  always  fulfilled  or  not  fulfilled  at  the  time 
he  said. 

Such  general  reflections  may  serve  as  an  intro- 
duction to  what  at  first  appears  an  anomaly  in 
prophecy — that  it  has  not  one,  but  many  lessons; 
and  that  the  manner  in  which  it  teaches  those 
lessons  is  through  the  alternations  of  the  human 
soul  itself.  There  are  failings  of  prophecy,  just  as 
there  are  failings  in  our  own  anticipations  of  the 
future.  And  sometimes  when  we  had  hoped  to  be 
delivered  it  has  seemed  good  to  God  to  afflict  us 
still.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  religion  is  there- 
fore a  cunningly  devised  fable,  either  now  or  then. 
Neither  the  faith  of  the  people,  nor  of  the  Prophet, 
in  the  God  of  their  fathers,  is  shaken  because  the 
prophecies  are  not  realized  before  their  eyes  ;  because 
'the  vision,5  as  they  said,  'is  delayed' ;  because  in 
many  cases  events  seem  to  occur  which  make  it 
impossible  that  it  should  be  accomplished.  A  true 
instinct  still  enables  them  to  separate  the  prophets 
of  Jehovah  from  the  numberless  false  prophets  with 
whom  the  land  swarmed ;  they  are  gifted  with  the 
4  same  discernment  of  spirits '  which  distinguished 
Micaiah  from  the  four  hundred  whom  Ahab  called. 
The  internal  evidence  of  the  true  prophet  we  are 
able  to  recognize  in  the  written  prophecies  also.  In 
the  earliest  as  well  as  the  latest  of  them  there  is  the 
same  spirit  one  and  continuous,  the  same  witness  of 


PROPHECY  47 

the  invisible  God,  the  same  character  of  the  Jewish 
people,  the  same  law  of  justice  and  mercy  in  the 
dealings  of  Providence  with  respect  to  them,  the 
same  '  walking  with  God '  in  the  daily  life  of 
the  prophet  himself. 

'  Novum  Testamentum  in  vetere  latet '  has  come 
to  be  a  favourite  word  among  theologians,  who  have 
thought  they  saw  in  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  the 
original  design  as  well  as  the  evangelical  application 
of  the  Mosaical  law.  With  a  deeper  meaning,  it 
may  be  said  that  prophecy  grows  out  of  itself  into 
the  Gospel.  Not,  as  some  extreme  critics  have 
conceived,  that  the  facts  of  the  Gospel  history  are 
but  the  crystallization  of  the  imagery  of  prophecy. 
Say,  rather,  that  the  river  of  the  water  of  life  is 
beginning  again  to  flow.  The  Son  of  God  himself 
is  '  that  Prophet ' — the  Prophet,  not  of  one  nation 
only,  but  of  all  mankind,  in  whom  the  particularity 
of  the  old  prophets  is  finally  done  away,  and  the 
ever-changing  form  of  the  '  servant  in  whom  My 
soul  delighteth '  at  last  finds  rest.  St.  Paul,  too, 
is  a  prophet  who  has  laid  aside  the  poetical  and 
authoritative  garb  of  old  times,  and  is  wrapped  in 
the  rhetorical  or  dialectical  one  of  his  own  age. 
The  language  of  the  old  prophets  comes  unbidden 
into  his  mind  ;  it  seems  to  be  the  natural  expression 
of  his  own  thoughts.  Separated  from  Joel,  Amos, 
Hosea,  Micah,  and  Isaiah  by  an  interval  of  about 
eight  hundred  years,  he  finds  their  words  very  near 
to  him  '  even  in  his  mouth  and  his  heart ; '  that 
is  the  word  which  he  preached.  When  they  spoke 
of  forgiveness  of  sins,  of  non-imputation  of  sins, 
of  a  sudden  turning  to  God,  what  did  this  mean 
but  righteousness  by  faith?  When  they  said  'I  will 


48  PROPHECY 

have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice/  here  also  was  imaged 
the  great  truth,  that  salvation  was  not  of  the  law. 
If  St.  Paul  would  have  c  no  man  judged  for  a  new 
moon  or  sabbath/  the  prophets  of  old  time  had 
again  and  again  said  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  'Your 
new  moons  and  sabbaths  I  cannot  away  with.' 
Like  the  elder  prophets,  he  came  not  '  to  build  up 
a  temple  made  with  hands/  but  to  teach  a  moral 
truth ;  like  them  he  went  forth  alone,  and  not  in 
connexion  with  the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  His 
calling  is  to  be  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles ;  they 
also  sometimes  pass  beyond  the  borders  of  Israel, 
to  receive  Egypt  and  Assyria  into  covenant  with 
God. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  137-40.) 

The  Interpretation  of  Prophecy 

Good  and  evil  seem  often  to  lie  together  flat 
upon  the  world's  surface.  At  other  times  they 
start  up,  like  armed  men,  and  prepare  for  the  last 
struggle.  There  is  a  state  in  the  individual  soul, 
in  which  it  has  entered  into  rest,  and  has  its 
conversation  in  heaven,  and  is  a  partaker  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  There  is  a  state  also  in  which 
it  is  divided  between  two,  not  unconscious  of  good, 
but  overpowered  by  evil,  living  in  what  St.  Paul 
terms  the  body  of  death.  There  is  a  third  state 
in  which  it  is  neither  conscious  of  good  nor  over- 
powered by  evil,  but  in  which  it  '  leads  the  life  of 
all  men '  acting  under  the  influence  of  habit,  law, 
opinion.  All  these  three  states  have  their  parallels 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  In  all  of  them, 
whether  in  the  individual  or  in  the  world,  whether 


PROPHECY  49 

arising  out  of  the  purpose  of  God  or  the  nature 
of  man,  there  sometimes  seems  to  be  a  kind  of 
necessity  which  will  not  suffer  them  to  be  other 
than  they  are.  The  first  is  that  state  for  which 
the  believer  looks  when  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  God  and  Christ. 
The  second  is  that  state  of  the  world,  seen  also 
to  him,  but  unseen  to  men  in  general,  in  which,  in 
the  language  of  prophecy,  4  the  wicked  is  revealed,' 
in  which  the  elements  of  good  and  evil  separate 
and  decompose  themselves,  in  anticipation  of  the 
final  judgement.  The  third  is  that  fixed  order  of 
the  world  in  which  we  live,  which  surrounds  us  on 
every  side  with  its  restraints,  social,  legal,  moral, 
which,  if  it  be  not  very  good,  is  not  very  evil ; 
which  '  letteth  and  will  let '  as  long  as  human 
nature  lasts.  Such  a  4  let '  to  the  evil  of  men  was 
the  Roman  Empire ;  such  a  '  let/  even  when  it  had 
lost  its  inspired  character,  was  the  Law  of  the  Jews. 
Whether  either  of  these,  or  both  of  them  combined 
in  the  same  way  that  in  the  Book  of  Revelation 
Rome  and  Jerusalem  combine  to  form  the  image 
of  the  last  enemy,  suggested  to  the  Apostle  the 
thought  of  '  that  which  let ' ;  whether  the  political 
order  of  the  world,  which  was  typified  by  them, 
seemed  to  him  for  a  time  to  interpose  itself  against 
the  manifestation  of  the  man  of  sin,  is  uncertain. 
Such  is  a  natural  adaptation  for  us  to  make  of  the 
words  of  the  prophecy ;  it  is  also  a  consistent 
interpretation  of  them  when  translated  out  of  the 
symbolism  of  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  into  more  general 
language.  To  suppose  that  there  is  to  be  some 
greater  deluge  of  evil  than  any  that  has  already 
poured  over  the  world,  at  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
E 


So  PROPHECY 

Empire,  or  in  the  tenth  century,  some  louder  shriek 
of  the  human  race  in  its  agony  than  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  to  be  heard  again  at  the  expiration 
of  two  thousand  years,  adds  nothing  to  the  credi- 
bility of  the  Apostle.  Least  of  all  can  we  imagine 
him  to  refer  to  a  <  gigantic  '  development  of  the 
human  intellect,  which  is  at  present  believed  to  be 
held  with  a  chain  by  the  governments  of  mankind. 
Such  opinions  draw  us  away  from  the  healthy 
atmosphere  of  history  and  experience  into  the  un- 
seen future  ;  they  project  to  an  unimaginable  distance, 
what  to  the  Apostle  was  near  and  present.  No 
test  can  be  applied  to  them ;  their  truth  or  false- 
hood, when  we  are  in  our  graves,  we  shall  never 
know.  They  gain  no  additional  witness  from  the 
willingness  of  their  authors  to  stake  the  inspiration 
of  Scripture  on  the  historic  certainty  of  the  event. 
So  long  as  we  delight  to  trace  coincidences,  or  to 
make  pictures  in  religion;  so  long  as  the  human 
mind  continues  to  prefer  the  extraordinary  to  the 
common,  such  interpretations  of  prophecy,  in  forms 
more  or  less  idealized  or  refined,  adapted  to  different 
ages  or  capacities,  will  never  fail.  But  the  Spirit 
of  prophecy  in  every  age  lives  not  in  signs  and 
wonders,  but  in  the  divine  sense  of  good  and  evil 
in  our  own  hearts,  and  in  the  world  around  us. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  101-3.) 


The  Causes  of  Progress 

Looking  back  on  the  history  of  the  world,  we 
observe  long  periods  in  which  mankind  appear  to 
have  been  stationary.  Great  empires  like  Egypt  or 


PROPHECY  51 

China  remain  the  same  for  two  thousand  or  for  three 
thousand  years ;  the  external  framework  of  their 
institutions  exercises  a  paralysing  influence  on  their 
life  and  spirit;  their  religions  continue  merely  be- 
cause they  are  ancient,  their  works  of  art  are  always 
cast  in  the  same  form,  their  laws  and  customs  are 
like  chains  too  strong  for  the  puny  arm  of  the 
individual  to  break.  Still  more  true  is  all  this,  as 
far  as  we  can  conjecture,  of  prehistoric  times  about 
which  we  know  so  little.  Though  there  were  wars 
and  migrations  among  primitive  men,  they  remained 
for  the  most  part  in  the  same  condition ;  there  was 
hardly  more  progress  among  them  than  among  the 
animals.  Even  in  our  own  age  of  industrial  and 
political  activity  we  become  unexpectedly  aware  of 
times  of  reaction :  the  force  which  seemed  strong 
enough  to  revolutionize  a  world  is  suddenly  arrested 
and  brought  to  a  stop  in  the  midst  of  its  career. 
Countries,  like  individuals,  are  always  in  danger  of 
falling  back  into  apathy  and  repose.  So  that,  if 
some  persons  speak  to  us  of  a  law  of  progress  in 
human  affairs,  others  will  seem  rather  to  discern  in 
them  a  law  of  rest ;  not  everything  going  forward, 
but  everything  standing  still — not  '  the  new  is  ever 
entwined  with  the  old,5  but  *•  there  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun.'  And  certainly  we  must  admit  that 
the  times  of  progress  and  improvement  have  been 
few  and  far  between :  the  day-spring  from  on  high 
has  visited  mankind  at  intervals.  Every  individual 
who  has  sought  to  do  good  in  his  generation  has 
probably  made  the  reflection  :  '  How  little  impres- 
sion he  has  left  upon  the  forces  arrayed  against  him ! 
hardly  more  than  the  husbandman  on  the  solid  frame- 
work of  the  earth.' 

E    2 


52  PROPHECY 

Yet  there  have  been  also  times  in  which  the 
fountains  of  the  deep  may  be  said  to  have  been 
broken  up ;  and  new  lights  have  dawned  upon  men, 
new  truths  about  politics,  about  morality,  about 
religion,  which  have  become  the  inheritance  of  after 
ages.  In  general  the  progress  of  mankind  has  not 
been  gradual,  but  sudden,  like  the  burst  of  summer 
in  some  ice-bound  clime.  Still  less  has  it  been 
a  common  effort  of  the  whole  human  race.  If  we 
take  away  two  nations  from  the  history  of  the 
world ;  if  we  imagine  further  that  the  six  greatest 
among  the  sons  of  men  were  blotted  out,  or  had 
never  been,  the  peoples  of  the  earth  would  still  be 
'  sitting  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death.' 
The  two  nations  were  among  the  fewest  of  all 
people :  scarcely  in  their  most  flourishing  period 
together  amounting  to  a  hundredth  part  of  the 
human  race.  The  golden  age  of  either  of  them 
can  hardly  be  said  to  extend  over  two  or  three 
centuries.  The  nations  themselves  were  not  good 
for  much ;  but  single  men  among  them  have  been 
the  teachers,  not  only  of  their  own,  but  of  all  ages 
and  countries.  If  the  Greek  philosophers  had  never 
existed,  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  very  nature 
of  the  human  mind  would  have  been  different  ? 
We  can  hardly  tell  when  or  how  the  sciences  would 
have  come  into  being ;  many  elements  of  religion 
as  well  as  of  law  would  have  been  wanting;  the 
history  of  nations  would  have  changed.  So  mighty 
has  been  the  influence  of  two  or  three  men  in 
thought  and  speculation — the  world  has  gone  after 
them.  (Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  282—4.) 


PROPHECY  53 


The  Living  Power  of  the  Jewish  Prophets 

If  the  logical  and  intellectual  framework  of  the 
human  mind  may  be  said  to  have  been  constructed 
by  the  Greek  philosophers,  the  moral  feelings  of 
men  have  been  deepened  and  strengthened,  and  also 
softened  and  almost  created  by  the  Jewish  prophets. 
In  modern  times  we  hardly  like  to  acknowledge  the 
full  force  of  their  words,  lest  they  should  prove 
subversive  to  society.  And  so  we  explain  them 
away  or  spiritualize  them,  and  convert  what  is 
figurative  into  what  is  literal,  and  what  is  literal 
into  what  is  figurative.  And  still,  after  all  our 
interpretation  or  misinterpretation,  whether  due  to 
a  false  theology  or  to  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
original  language,  the  force  of  the  words  remains  ; 
and  a  light  of  heavenly  truth  and  love  streams  from 
them  even  now  (more  than  2500  years  after  they 
were  first  uttered)  to  the  uneducated  and  ignorant, 
to  the  widow  or  the  orphan,  when  they  read  the 
words,  '  Who  hath  believed  our  report  ?  '  and 
'  Comfort  ye  my  people.' 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  286.) 


IV 
THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

Development  of  the  Church 

*  THE  history  of  the  Christian  Church  seems  to 
show  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  creating  a  religious 
organization  which  may  spread  far  and  wide  among 
the  countries  of  the  world.  There  are  few  or 
rather  no  traces  of  Episcopacy  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  at  the  end  of  the  second  century  the 
Episcopal  fabric  is  complete  ;  the  Church  is  one 
and  indivisible,  and  this  is  not  a  matter  of  controversy 
but  of  history.  A  thousand  years  later  the  tendency 
to  unity  has  been  carried  further  still,  the  republic 
of  Christendom  has  become  an  empire,  continuing 
for  ages  the  rival  or  superior  of  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world.  And  when  at  last  the  branches  of  the  great 
tree  have  been  lopped  off  on  this  side  and  on  that, 
there  is  the  same  inherent  vitality  still,  the  old 
organization  survives,  claiming  a  higher  power  and 
a  diviner  right,  while  the  new  also  becomes  a  tree 
aspiring  to  a  less  arbitrary  rule,  but  still  able  to 
assert  an  authority  more  than  human. 

The  want  of  organization  has  never  been  the 
want  of  the  Christian  world.  Churches,  like  nations, 
have  had  no  difficulty  in  making  governments  for 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  55 

themselves.  The  danger  has  rather  been  that  too 
much  union  might  be  the  parent  of  division;  and 
that  Churches,  like  nations,  might  become  aggressive 
towards  those  who  are  without.  There  has  also 
been  a  danger  that  they  might  assign  too  great  a 
value  to  the  outward  signs  which  were  also  the 
limits  of  their  communion,  making  the  visible 
prevail  over  the  invisible,  supposing  that  because 
they  had  power  they  had  also  right,  or  sometimes 
that  the  spirit  of  party  was  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Nor,  again,  does  there  seem  to  have  been  any 
difficulty  in  developing  and  defining  Christian  doc- 
trine. How  the  simple  words  of  Christ,  '  Believe 
on  Me,'  grew  into  a  vast  system  set  forth  in  hard 
and  technical  terms  which  the  first  teachers  of  the 
word  could  not  even  have  understood,  is  a  strange 
reflection  which,  living  eighteen  centuries  afterwards, 
we  are  unable  adequately  to  realize.  To  us  they 
seem  to  have  gone  into  too  much  detail,  and  that 
on  subjects  which  transcend  human  thought  and 
language.  (  Unpublished. ) 

Development  of  Doctrine 

The  history  of  theology  is  the  history  of  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  Christian  Church.  All 
bodies  of  Christians,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic, 
have  tended  to  imagine  that  they  are  in  the  same 
stage  of  religious  development  as  the  first  believers. 
But  the  Church  has  not  stood  still  any  more  than 
the  world ;  we  may  trace  the  progress  of  doctrine 
as  well  as  the  growth  of  philosophical  opinion. 
The  thoughts  of  men  do  not  pass  away  without 
leaving  an  impress,  in  religion,  any  more  than  in 


56  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

politics  or  literature.  The  form  of  more  than  one 
article  of  faith  in  our  own  day  is  assignable  to  the 
effort  of  mind  of  some  great  thinker  of  the  Nicene 
or  mediaeval  times.  The  received  interpretation  of 
texts  of  Scripture  may  not  unfrequently  be  referred 
to  the  application  of  them  first  made  in  periods  of 
controversy.  Neither  is  it  possible  in  any  reforma- 
tion of  the  Church  to  return  exactly  to  the  point 
whence  the  divergence  began.  The  pattern  of 
Apostolical  order  may  be  restored  in  externals ; 
but  the  threads  of  the  dialectical  process  are  in  the 
mind  itself,  and  cannot  be  disposed  of  at  once.  It 
seems  to  be  the  nature  of  theology  that  while  it  is 
easy  to  add  one  definition  of  doctrine  to  another,  it 
is  hard  to  withdraw  from  any  which  have  been  once 
received.  To  believe  too  much  is  held  to  be  safer 
than  to  believe  too  little,  and  the  human  intellect 
finds  a  more  natural  exercise  in  raising  the  super- 
structure than  in  examining  the  foundations.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  instructive  to  observe  that  there 
has  always  been  an  under-current  in  theology,  the 
course  of  which  has  turned  towards  morality,  and 
not  away  from  it.  There  is  a  higher  sense  of 
truth  and  right  now  than  in  the  Nicene  Church — 
after  than  before  the  Reformation.  The  laity  in 
all  Churches  have  moderated  the  extremes  of  the 
clergy.  There  may  also  be  remarked  a  silent  cor- 
rection in  men's  minds  of  statements  which  have 
not  ceased  to  appear  in  theological  writings. 

The  study  of  the  doctrinal  development  of  the 
Christian  Church  has  many  uses.  First,  it  helps 
us  to  separate  the  history  of  a  doctrine  from  its 
truth,  and  indirectly  also  the  meaning  of  Scripture 
from  the  new  reading  of  it,  which  has  been  given 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  57 

in  many  instances  by  theological  controversy.  It 
takes  us  away  from  the  passing  movement,  and  out 
of  our  own  particular  corner  into  a  world  in  which 
we  see  religion  on  a  larger  scale  and  in  truer  pro- 
portions. It  enables  us  to  interpret  one  age  to 
another,  to  understand  our  present  theological  posi- 
tion by  its  antecedents  in  the  past ;  and  perhaps  to 
bind  all  together  in  the  spirit  of  charity.  Half  the 
intolerance  of  opinion  among  Christians  arises  from 
ignorance ;  in  history  as  in  life,  when  we  know 
others  we  get  to  like  them.  Logic  too  ceases  to 
take  us  by  force  and  make  us  believe.  There  is 
a  pathetic  interest  and  a  kind  of  mystery  in  the  long 
continuance  and  intensity  of  erroneous  ideas  on 
behalf  of  which  men  have  been  ready  to  die,  which 
nevertheless  were  no  better  than  the  dreams  or 
fancies  of  children.  When  we  make  allowance 
for  differences  in  modes  of  thought,  for  the  state  of 
knowledge,  and  the  conditions  of  the  ecclesiastical 
society,  we  see  that  individuals  have  not  been 
altogether  responsible  for  their  opinions  ;  that  the 
world  has  been  bound  together  under  the  influence 
of  the  past ;  moreover,  good  men  of  all  persuasions 
have  been  probably  nearer  to  one  another  than  they 
supposed,  in  doctrine  as  well  as  in  life.  It  is  the 
attempt  to  preserve  or  revive  erroneous  opinions  in 
the  present  age,  not  their  existence  in  former  ages, 
that  is  to  be  reprobated.  Lastly,  the  study  of  the 
history  of  doctrine  is  the  end  of  controversy.  For 
it  is  above  controversy,  of  which  it  traces  the  growth, 
clearing  away  that  part  which  is  verbal  only,  and 
teaching  us  to  understand  that  other  part  which  is 
iixed  in  the  deeper  differences  of  human  nature. 
(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  340-2.) 


;  8  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 


Suddenness  and  Permanence  of  Early 
Conversions 

If  with  ourselves  the  influence  of  Christianity  is 
almost  always  gradual  and  imperceptible,  with  the 
first  believers  it  was  almost  always  sudden.  There 
was  no  interval  which  separated  the  preaching  of 
Peter  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  from  the  baptism 
of  the  three  thousand.  The  eunuch  of  Candace 
paused  for  a  brief  space  on  a  journey,  and  was  then 
baptized  into  the  name  of  Christ,  which  a  few  hours 
previously  he  had  not  so  much  as  heard.  There 
was  no  period  of  probation  like  that  which,  a  century 
or  two  later,  was  appropriated  to  the  instruction  of 
the  Catechumens.  It  was  an  impulse,  an  inspiration 
passing  from  the  lips  of  one  to  a  chosen  few,  and 
communicated  by  them  to  the  ear  and  soul  of  listening 
multitudes.  As  the  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth, 
and  we  hear  the  sound  thereof;  as  the  lightning 
shineth  from  the  one  end  of  the  heaven  to  the  other  ; 
so,  suddenly,  fitfully,  simultaneously,  new  thoughts 
came  into  their  minds,  not  to  one  only,  but  to  many, 
to  whole  cities  almost  at  once.  They  were  pricked 
with  the  sense  of  sin  ;  they  were  melted  with  the 
love  of  Christ ;  their  spiritual  nature  '  came  again 
like  the  flesh  of  a  little  child.'  And  some,  like 
St.  Paul,  became  the  very  opposite  of  their  former 
selves;  from  scoffers,  believers;  from  persecutors, 
preachers ;  the  thing  that  they  were  was  so  strange 
to  them,  that  they  could  no  longer  look  calmly  on 
the  earthly  scene,  which  they  hardly  seemed  to 
touch,  which  was  already  lighted  up  with  the  wrath 
and  mercy  of  God.  There  were  those  among  them 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  59 

who  '  saw  visions  and  dreamed  dreams,'  who  were 
'caught  up,'  like  St.  Paul,  'into  the  third  heaven,' 
or,  like  the  twelve,  '  spake  with  other  tongues  as  the 
Spirit  gave  them  utterance/  And  sometimes,  as  in 
the  Thessalonian  Church,  the  ecstasy  of  conversion 
led  to  strange  and  wild  opinions,  such  as  the  daily 
expectation  of  Christ's  coming.  The  '  round  world ' 
itself  began  to  reel  before  them,  as  they  thought  of 
the  things  that  were  shortly  to  come  to  pass. 

But  however  sudden  were  the  conversions  of  the 
earliest  believers,  however  wonderful  the  circum- 
stances which  attended  them,  they  were  not  for  that 
reason  the  less  lasting  or  sincere.  Though  many 
preached  c  Christ  of  contention/  though  '  Demas 
forsook  the  Apostle,'  there  were  few  who,  having 
once  taken  up  the  cross,  turned  back  from  '  the  love 
of  this  present  world.'  They  might  waver  between 
Paul  and  Peter,  between  the  circumcision  and  the 
uncircumcision ;  they  might  give  ear  to  the  strange 
and  bewitching  heresies  of  the  East ;  but  there  is  no 
trace  that  many  returned  to  '  those  that  were  no 
gods,'  or  put  off  Christ ;  the  impression  of  the  truth 
that  they  had  received  was  everlasting  on  their 
minds.  Even  sins  of  fornication  and  uncleanness, 
which  from  the  Apostle's  frequent  warnings  against 
them  we  must  suppose  to  have  lingered,  as  a  sort  of 
remnant  of  heathenism  in  the  early  Church,  did  not 
wholly  destroy  their  inward  relation  to  God  and 
Christ.  Though  'their  last  state  might  be  worse 
than  the  first,'  they  could  never  return  again  to  live 
the  life  of  all  men  after  having  tasted  '  the  heavenly 
gift  and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.' 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  103-5.) 


6o  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Regeneration 

Imagine  not  infants,  but  crowds  of  grown-up 
persons  already  changed  in  heart  and  feelings ;  their 
'  life  hidden  with  Christ  and  God/  losing  their 
personal  consciousness  in  the  laver  of  regeneration ; 
rising  again  from  its  depths  into  the  light  of  heaven, 
in  communion  with  God  and  nature ;  met  as  they 
rose  from  the  bath  with  the  white  raiment,  which  is 
'the  righteousness  of  the  saints,'  and  ever  after 
looking  back  on  that  moment  as  the  instant  of  their 
new  birth,  of  the  putting  off  of  the  old  man,  and 
the  putting  on  of  Christ.  Baptism  was  to  them  the 
figure  of  death,  burial,  and  resurrection  all  in  one, 
the  most  apt  expression  of  the  greatest  change  that 
can  pass  upon  man,  like  the  sudden  change  into 
another  life  when  we  leave  the  body. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  291.) 

The  Transition  from  Judaism 

Our  conception  of  the  Apostolical  age  is  neces- 
sarily based  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  It  is  in  vain  to  search  ecclesias- 
tical writings  for  further  information ;  the  pages  of 
Justin  and  Irenaeus  supply  only  the  evidence  of  their 
own  deficiency.  Confining  ourselves,  then,  to  the 
original  sources,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  by  the  fact 
that,  of  the  first  eighteen  years  after  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  hardly  any  account  is  preserved  to  us  in 
the  Acts,  and  that  to  this  scanty  record  no  addition 
can  be  made  from  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Isolated 
facts  are  narrated,  but  not  events  in  their  order  and 
sequence  :  there  is  no  general  prospect  of  the  Chris- 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  61 

tian  world.  Churches  are  growing  up  everywhere : 
some  the  result  of  missions  from  Jerusalem,  others 
of  unknown  origin ;  yet  none  of  them  standing  in 
any  definite  relation  to  the  Apostles  of  the  circum- 
cision. It  seems  as  if  we  had  already  reached  the 
second  stage  in  the  history  of  the  Apostolic  Church, 
without  any  precise  knowledge  of  the  first.  That 
second  period,  if  we  terminate  it  with  the  supposed 
date  of  the  Apostle's  death,  extends  over  about 
fourteen  or  fifteen  years — years  full  of  life,  and 
growth,  and  vicissitude.  Could  the  preceding  period 
have  been  less  so,  or  does  it  only  appear  to  be  so 
from  the  silence  of  history  ?  Is  it  according  to  the 
analogy  of  human  things,  or  of  the  workings  of 
Divine  power  in  the  soul  of  man,  that,  during  the 
first  part  of  its  existence,  Christianity  should  have 
slumbered,  and  after  fifteen  years  of  inaction  have 
suddenly  gone  forth  to  conquer  the  world  ?  Or  are 
we  falling  under  that  common  historical  illusion,  that 
little  happened  in  a  time  of  which  we  know  little  ? 

And  yet  how  are  we  to  supply  this  lost  history 
out  of  the  single  verse  of  the  Acts  (xi.  1 9),  '  They 
which  were  scattered  abroad  upon  the  persecution 
that  arose  about  Stephen  travelled  as  far  as  Phenice, 
and  Cyprus,  and  Antioch,  preaching  the  word  to 
none  but  unto  the  Jews  only.'  What  reply  is  to  be 
made  to  the  inquiry  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  the  two  cities  which  in  after-ages 
were  to  exercise  the  greatest  influence  on  its  history, 
Alexandria  and  Rome  ?  We  cannot  tell.  Our 
slender  materials  only  admit  of  being  eked  out  by 
some  general  facts  which  do  not  fill  up  the  void  of 
details,  but  are  of  the  greatest  importance  in  illus- 
trating the  spirit  and  character  of  the  earliest  Christian 


62  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

communities.  Foremost  among  these  facts  is  the 
dispersion  of  the  Jews.  The  remark  has  been  often 
made  that  the  universality  of  the  Roman  Empire  was 
itself  a  preparation  for  the  universality  of  the  Gospel, 
its  very  organization  throughout  the  world  being  the 
image,  as  it  may  have  been  the  model,  of  the  external 
form  of  the  Christian  Church.  But  not  less  strik- 
ing as  an  image  of  the  external  state  of  the  earliest 
Christian  communion  is  the  dispersion  of  the  ten 
tribes  throughout  the  world,  and  not  less  worthy 
of  observation  as  it  was  an  inward  preparation  for 
Christianity  is  the  universal  diffusion  of  that  religion, 
the  spirit  of  which  seemed  at  the  time  to  be  most 
narrow  and  contracted  within  itself,  and  at  first  sight 
most  hostile  to  the  whole  human  race.  Of  all 
religions  in  the  world  it  was  probably  the  only  one 
capable  of  making  proselytes — which  had  the  force, 
as  it  had  the  will,  to  draw  men  within  its  circle. 
Literally,  and  not  only  in  idea,  'the  Law  was  a 
schoolmaster  to  bring  men  to  Christ.'  The  com- 
passing sea  and  land  £to  make  one  proselyte'  was 
not  without  its  results.  Seneca,  who  did  not  know, 
or  at  least  has  not  told  anything  of  the  Christians, 
says  of  the  Jews,  ;  Victorious  victi  leges  dederunt.' 
The  Roman  satirists  were  aware  of  their  festivals, 
and  speak  of  them  in  a  way  which  implies  not  only 
converts  to  Judaism,  but  a  degree  of  regard  for 
their  opinions.  They  had  passed  into  a  proverb  in 
Horace's  time  for  their  zeal  in  bringing  men  over 
to  their  opinions  (l  Sat.  iv.  143).  Philo  mentions 
the  suburb  beyond  the  Tiber  in  which  they  were 
domiciled  by  Augustus,  the  greater  number  of  the 
inhabitants  of  which  are  said  to  have  been  freedmen 
(Leg.  ad  Caium,  23.)  Tacitus's  account  of  their 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  63 

origin  is  perhaps  an  unique  attempt  in  a  Roman 
writer  to  investigate  the  religious  antiquities  of  an 
Eastern  people,  implying  of  itself,  what  it  also 
explicitly  states,  the  tendency  towards  them.  No 
other  religion  had  been  sustained  for  centuries  by 
contributions  from  the  most  remote  parts  of  the 
empire  to  a  common  centre ;  contributions  the  very 
magnitude  of  which  is  ascribed  to  the  zeal  of 
numerous  converts  (Tacitus,  Hist.  v.  5 ;  Cicero 
pro  Flacco,  c.  28).  According  to  Josephus,  whole 
tribes  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Judea  had  submitted 
to  the  rite  of  circumcision  (Ant.  xiii.  9.  I  ;  11.3; 
15.  4).  The  women  of  Damascus  in  particular  are 
mentioned  J  as  not  trusted  by  their  husbands  in  a 
massacre  of  the  Jews,  because  they  were  '  favourable 
to  the  Jews'  religion.'  The  Jews  in  Alexandria 
occupied  two  of  the  five  quarters  into  which  the  city 
was  divided :  and  the  whole  Jewish  population  of 
Egypt  was  rated  by  Philo  at  a  million.  Facts  like 
these  speak  volumes  for  the  importance  and  influence 
of  the  Jews. 

In  one  sense  it  is  true  that  the  Jewish  religion 
seemed  already  about  to  expire.  To  us,  looking 
back  from  the  vantage  ground  of  the  Gospel, 
nothing  is  clearer  than  that  it  contained  within 
itself  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction.  '  The  Law 
and  the  Prophets  were  until  John,  and  now  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the 
violent  take  it  by  force.'  Before  Christ — after 
Christ — this  is  the  great  landmark  that  divides 
Judaism  from  Christianity,  while  for  a  few  years 
longer  the  devoted  nation,  already  within  the  coils 
of  its  own  destiny,  lingers  about  its  ancient  seat. 
It  was  otherwise  to  its  contemporaries.  To  them 


64  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

the  Jewish  people  were  not  declining,  but  growing. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  its  wealth  and  in- 
fluence. The  least  of  all  peoples  in  itself,  it  was 
a  nation  within  a  nation  in  every  city.  In  the 
wreck  of  the  heathen  religions,  Judaism  alone  re- 
mained unchanged.  Nor  is  there  anything  strange 
in  its  retaining  undiminished  this  power  over  the 
human  mind,  when  its  own  national  glory  had 
already  departed.  Its  objects  of  faith  were  not 
lessened,  but  magnified  by  distance.  It  contained 
in  itself  that  inward  life  which  other  religions  were 
seeking  for,  and  for  the  want  of  which  they  expired. 
It  could  not  but  communicate  to  others  the  belief 
in  the  unity  of  God,  which  had  sunk  for  ages  into 
the  heart  of  the  race; — to  the  educated  Greek  'one 
guess  among  many,' — to  the  Israelite  a  necessary 
truth.  It  formed  a  sort  of  meeting-point  of  East 
and  West,  which  in  the  movement  of  either  towards 
the  other  naturally  exercised  a  singular  influence. 
Many  elements  of  Greek  cultivation  had  insensibly 
passed  into  the  mind  of  the  Jewish  people,  as  of 
other  Asiatic  nations,  before  the  reaction  of  the 
Maccabean  wars ;  cities  with  Greek  names  covered 
the  land :  even  after  that  time  the  rugged  Hebrew 
feeling  was  confined  within  narrow  limits.  The 
Gospel  as  it  passed  from  the  lips  of  our  Lord  and 
the  Twelve  had  not  far  to  go  in  Palestine  itself 
before  it  came  in  contact  with  the  Greek  world. 
In  other  countries  the  diffusion  of  the  Greek 
Version  of  the  Old  Testament  is  a  proof  that  a 
Hellenized  Judaism  was  growing  up  everywhere. 
The  Alexandrian  philosophy  offered  a  link  with 
heathen  literature  and  mythology.  Judaism  was  no 
longer  isolated,  but  wandering  far  and  wide.  Cling- 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  65 

ing  to  its  belief  in  Jehovah  and  abating  nothing  of 
its  national  pride,  it  was  nevertheless  capable  of 
assuming  to  itself  new  phases  without  losing  its 
essential  character,  of  dropping  its  more  repulsive 
features  and  entering  into  and  penetrating  the  better 
heathen  mind  both  of  East  and  West. 

The  heads  of  many  subjects  of  inquiry  are 
summed  up  in  these  reflections,  which  lead  us  round 
to  the  question  from  which  we  started,  '  Whether  to 
the  Gentiles  also  the  gate  of  the  New  Testament 
was  through  the  Old  ? '  And  they  suggest  the 
answer  to  the  question,  that  '  so  it  was/  not  because 
the  minds  of  the  first  teachers  were  unable  to  rise 
above  the  '  rudiments  of  the  Law,'  but  because  the 
soil  for  Christianity  among  the  Gentiles  was  itself 
prepared  in  Judaism.  It  was  the  natural  growth  of 
the  Gospel  in  the  world  as  it  then  was.  The  better 
life  of  the  Jewish  people  passed  into  the  earliest 
Christian  Church ;  the  meaning  of  prophecy  was 
lost  to  the  Jew  and  found  to  the  believer  in  Christ. 
And  the  facts  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
represent  the  outward  side  of  this  inward  tendency  : 
it  was  the  Jewish  proselyte  who  commonly  became 
the  Christian  convert.  Such  were  Cornelius  and 
the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  and  the  deputy  Sergius  Paulus, 
who  '  of  his  own  accord  desired  to  hear  the  word 
of  God.'  The  teachers  themselves  wore  the  habit 
of  Jews,  and  they  came  appealing  to  the  authority 
of  the  Old  Testament.  That  garb  and  form  and 
manner  which  we  insensibly  drop  in  thinking  of  the 
early  teachers  of  Christianity  could  not  have  failed 
to  impress  its  Jewish  character  on  their  first  hearers. 
It  would  be  their  first  conception  of  the  Gospel, 
that  it  was  a  kind  of  Judaism  to  which  they  were 
1? 


66  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

predisposed  by  the  same  kind  of  feelings  which  led 
them  towards  Judaism  itself. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  208-12.) 

The  Fullness  of  Time 

Shall  we  say  that  great  events  arise  from  ante- 
cedents, or  without  them  ?  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
or  out  of  due  time  ?  by  sudden  crises,  or  with  long 
purpose  and  preparation  ?  It  is  impossible  for  us  to 
view  the  great  changes  of  the  world  under  any  of 
these  aspects  exclusively.  The  spread  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  the  fall  of  the  Jewish  nation,  the 
decline  of  the  heathen  religions — Jewish  prophecy, 
Greek  philosophy,  these  are  the  natural  links  which 
connect  the  Gospel  with  the  actual  state  of  man- 
kind, the  causes,  humanly  speaking,  of  its  propaga- 
tion, and  the  soil  in  which  it  grew.  But  there  is 
something  besides  of  which  no  account  can  be  given. 
The  external  circumstances  or  conditions  of  events 
do  not  explain  history  any  more  than  life.  Why 
the  Gospel  came  into  the  world  in  a  particular 
form,  or  at  a  particular  time,  is  a  question  which 
is  not  reached  by  any  analysis  of  this  sort. 

This  Providential  time  is  what  the  Apostle  calls 
'the  fullness  of  time,'  not  because  in  the  modern 
way  of  reflection  the  causes  and  antecedents  of  the 
Gospel  were  already  in  being,  but  because  it  was 
the  time  appointed  of  God,  the  mysterious  hour 
when  the  great  revelation  was  to  be  made.  It  is 
when  contemplated  from  within,  not  from  without, 
that  it  appears  to  him  to  be  the  fullness  of  time  ; 
standing  in  the  same  relation  to  the  world  at  large, 
that  the  moment  of  conversion  does  to  the  individual 
soul.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  I  53.) 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  67 

Relation  of  Christianity  to  Nature  and 
History 

The  traveller  in  Greece  or  in  Asia  who  has 
followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Apostles,  who  has 
beheld  with  his  own  eyes  the  same  scenes  that  were 
looked  upon  by  St.  Paul  and  St.  John,  is  loth  to 
believe  that  he  can  add  nothing  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  Seven  Churches,  or  of  the  labours  of  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  Those  scenes  have  a 
never-dying  interest ;  but  it  is  for  themselves  alone. 
Fain  would  we  imagine  the  sight  upon  which  St. 
Paul  looked  when,  standing  on  Mars'  Hill,  he  be- 
held '  the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry  ' ;  fain  would 
we  see  in  fancy  the  desert  rocks  of  the  sea-girt 
isle,  on  which  St.  John  gazed  when  he  wrote  the 
Apocalypse.  But  we  must  not  transfer  to  the 
ancient  world  our  own  impressions  of  nature  or  of 
art.  Of  that  sensibility  to  the  beauties  of  scenery, 
or  of  that  romantic  recollection  of  the  past,  which 
are  such  remarkable  characteristics  of  our  own  day, 
there  is  no  trace  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, nor  any  reason  to  suppose  that  they  had 
a  place  in  the  minds  of  its  authors. 

Taking  the  other  aspect  of  the  subject,  we  are 
far  from  denying  that  the  birth  of  Christianity  is 
the  most  interesting  of  historical  facts;  but  its 
interest  is  also  for  itself  alone :  it  is  not  derived 
from  any  political  influence  which  the  Gospel  at 
first  exercised,  or  from  any  political  causes  which 
may  have  favoured  or  given  rise  to  it.  In  the 
vastness  of  the  Roman  world,  it  is  as  a  small 
isolated  spot,  the  light,  as  it  were,  of  a  candle, 
which  must  be  sought  for,  not  in  the  court  of 
F  2 


68  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

Caesar,  nor  amid  the  factions  of  Jerusalem,  but  in 
the  upper  chamber  in  which  the  disciples  met  when 
'  the  number  of  the  names  together  was  about  an 
hundred  and  twenty,  and  the  doors  were  shut  for 
fear  of  the  Jews.'  It  is  one  of  those  minute  facts 
which  escape  the  eye  of  the  contemporary  historian, 
and  must  not  be  drawn  before  its  time  into  the  circle 
of  political  events.  Its  first  greatness  is  the  very 
contrast  which  it  presents  with  the  greatness  of 
history.  Strange  it  is  to  think  of  the  contemporary 
heathen  world,  of  Tiberius  at  Capreae,  of  the 
Roman  senate,  of  the  solid  framework  of  the 
Roman  Empire  itself.  But  when  this  first  feeling 
of  surprise  has  passed  away,  we  become  aware  that 
the  page  of  Tacitus,  or  even  of  Josephus,  adds 
nothing  worth  speaking  of  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
earliest  Christianity.  The  most  remarkable  fact 
supplied  by  them  is  their  unconsciousness  of  its 
importance.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  19-20.) 

The  Persecution  of  the  First  Preachers 

All  ages  which  have  witnessed  a  revival  of 
religious  feeling  have  witnessed  also  the  outbreak 
of  religious  passions ;  the  pure  light  of  the  one 
becomes  the  spark  by  which  the  other  is  kindled. 
Reasons  of  state  sometimes  create  a  faint  and 
distant  suspicion  of  a  new  faith  ;  the  feelings  of  the 
mass  rise  to  overwhelm  it. 

Allowing  for  the  difference  of  times  and  seasons, 
the  feelings  of  the  Roman  governors  were  not 
altogether  unlike  those  with  which  the  followers 
of  John  Wesley,  in  the  last  century,  might  have 
been  regarded  by  the  magistrates  of  an  English 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  69 

town.  And  making  still  greater  allowance  for  the 
malignity  and  depth  of  the  passions  by  which  men 
were  agitated  as  the  old  religions  were  breaking  up, 
a  parallel  not  less  just  might  be  drawn  also  between 
the  feelings  of  the  multitude.  There  was  in  both 
cases  a  kind  of  sympathy  by  which  the  lower  class 
were  attracted  towards  the  new  teachers.  Natural 
feeling  suggested  that  these  men  had  come  for  their 
good ;  they  were  grateful  for  the  love  shown  of 
them,  and  for  the  ministration  to  their  temporal 
wants.  There  was  a  time  when  it  was  said  of  the 
first  believers,  that  they  were  in  favour  with  all 
the  people  (Acts  ii.  47),  and  that  4  all  men  glorified 
God  for  that  which  was  done*  (iv.  21).  But  at 
the  preaching  of  Stephen  the  scene  changes  ;  the 
deep  irreconcilable  hostility  of  the  two  principles 
is  beginning  to  be  felt;  'it  is  not  peace,  but  a 
sword;'  not  'I  am  come  to  fulfil  the  law,'  but 
6  not  one  stone  shall  be  left  upon  another.' 

The  moment  this  was  clearly  perceived,  not  only 
would  the  far-sighted  jealousy  of  chief  priests  and 
rulers  be  alarmed  at  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  ; 
but  the  very  instincts  of  the  multitude  itself  would 
rise  at  them.  More  than  anything  that  we  have 
witnessed  in  modern  times  of  religious  intolerance, 
would  be  the  feeling  against  those  who  sought  to 
relax  the  bond  of  circumcision  as  enemies  to  their 
country,  their  religion,  and  their  God.  But  there 
was  another  aspect  of  the  new  religion,  which  served 
to  bring  home  these  feelings  even  yet  more  nearly. 
It  was  the  disruption  of  the  family.  As  our  Lord 
foretold,  the  father  was  against  the  son,  the  son 
against  the  father,  the  mother-in-law  against  the 
daughter-in-law,  the  daughter-in-law  against  her 


70  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

mother-in-law.  A  new  power  had  arisen  in  the 
world,  which  seemed  to  cut  across  and  dissever 
natural  affections  (Matt.  x.  34).  Consider  what 
is  implied  in  the  words  'of  believing  women  not 
a  few ' ;  what  animosities  of  parents,  and  brethren, 
and  husbands !  what  hatreds,  and  fears,  and  jealousies ! 
An  unknown  tie,  closer  than  that  of  kindred,  drew 
away  the  individuals  of  a  family,  and  joined  them  to 
an  external  society.  It  was  not  only  that  they  were 
members  of  another  Church,  or  attendants  on  a 
separate  worship.  The  difference  went  beyond  this. 
In  the  daily  intercourse  of  life,  at  every  meal,  the 
unbelieving  brother  or  sister  was  conscious  of  the 
presence  of  the  unclean.  It  was  an  injury  not 
readily  to  be  forgotten,  or  forgiven  its  authors,  the 
greatest,  perhaps,  which  could  be  offered  in  this 
world.  The  fanatic  priest,  led  on  by  every  personal 
and  religious  motive — the  man  of  the  world,  caring 
for  none  of  those  things,  but  not  the  less  resenting 
the  intrusion  on  the  peace  of  his  home — the  crafts- 
man, fearing  for  his  gains — the  accursed  multitude, 
knowing  not  the  law,  but  irritated  at  the  very  notion 
of  this  mysterious  society  of  such  real  though  hidden 
strength — would  all  work  together  towards  the  over- 
throw of  those  who  seemed  to  them  to  be  turning 
upside  down  the  political,  religious,  and  social  order 
of  the  world.  The  utterance  of  this  instinct  of 
dislike  is  heard  in  the  words,  'These  men,  being 
Jews,  do  exceedingly  trouble  our  city,  and  teach 
customs,  which  are  not  lawful  for  us  to  receive, 
neither  to  observe,  being  Romans '  (Acts  xvi. 
20,  21).  (Compare,  to  complete  the  picture,  the 
description  in  the  previous  verses  of  the  damsel 
possessed  with  a  spirit  of  divination,  who  cried 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  71 

after  Paul  many  days,  '  These  men  are  the  servants 
of  the  most  High  God.') 

These  considerations,  though  based  only  on 
general  principles  of  human  nature,  are  necessary 
to  make  us  understand  the  undercurrent  of  the 
Apostolical  history,  as  well  as  to  form  a  just 
estimate  of  the  question  which  we  are  considering. 
The  actual  persecution  of  the  Roman  government 
was  slight,  but  what  may  be  termed  the  social 
persecution  and  the  illegal  violence  employed  towards 
the  first  disciples  unceasing.  '  Of  the  Jews  five 
times  received  I  forty  stripes  save  one ; '  who 
would  know  or  care  what  went  on  in  the  Jewish 
quarter  of  a  great  city  ?  How  precarious  must 
have  been  their  fate  who,  with  the  passions  of  men 
arrayed  against  them,  had  no  protection  from  the 
law !  They  were  liable  to  be  persecuted  by  the  Jews, 
to  suffer  persecution  as  Jews,  to  arm  the  feelings 
of  all  nations  against  themselves  as  the  professors  of 
an  unnational  religion.  Little  reflection  is  neces- 
sary to  fill  up  the  details  of  that  image  of  peril, 
which  the  Apostle  presents  to  us  in  all  his  Epistles. 
It  is  the  same  vision  which  -is  again  held  up  to 
us  in  the  Book  of  the  Revelation,  of  the  common 
tribulation  of  St.  John  and  the  Churches,  of  the 
sufferings  that  were  to  come  upon  the  Church  of 
Smyrna,  of  the  faithfulness  of  Pergamos  in  the  days 
when  the  martyr  Antipas  was  slain,  of  the  two 
witnesses,  and  of  the  souls  beneath  the  altar,  saying 
'  How  long  ? '  It  is  the  same  which  reappears  in 
the  earliest  ecclesiastical  history,  in  the  narrative  of 
Hegesippus  respecting  James  the  Just.  It  is  the 
state  of  life  described  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
of  those  who  had  'not  yet  resisted  unto  blood, 


72  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

striving  against  sin'  (xii.  4),  whose  leaders  seem 
to  have  already  suffered  (xiii.  7,  23).  Except  on 
some  accidental  occasion,  such  as  the  Neronian 
persecution,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
power  of  Rome  was  systematically  employed  against 
the  first  disciples  of  the  Apostles.  But  it  does  not 
diminish  their  sufferings,  that  they  were  the  result  of 
illegal  violence,  such  as  the  tumults  at  Thessalonica, 
at  Ephesus,  or  at  Jerusalem. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  42-4.) 

The  First  Day  of  the  Week 

The  custom  of  meeting  together,  not  on  the 
Sabbath,  but  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  seems 
to  have  existed  among  Christians  from  the  earliest 
times.  Before  the  end  of  the  second  century 
simple  forms  of  celebrating  the  Communion  had 
become  fixed  among  them.  Even  in  the  New 
Testament,  though  there  is  no  trace  of  a  regular 
hierarchy,  or  of  a  distinction  between  the  clergy 
and  laity,  nor  any  mention  of  a  form  of  worship, 
yet  we  may  observe  that  the  assembling  of  the 
disciples  on  Sunday  is  a  custom  already  in  use. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  week  they  came  together 
and  brake  bread,  and  Paul  preached  to  them  ;  and 
he  exhorts  the  Corinthian  Christians  to  make  a 
collection  for  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week.  Thus  probably  older  than 
the  New  Testament,  older  than  the  institution  of 
Episcopacy  or  of  any  other  form  of  Church  govern- 
ment, is  that  custom  of  public  worship  on  Sundays, 
which  after  the  example  of  Christ  and  the  Apostle 
St.  Paul  we  still  continue.  For  more  than  eighteen 


THE  EARLY  CHURCH  73 

hundred  years  there  has  never  been  a  Sunday  in 
which  Christians  have  not  met  together  ;  sometimes 
in  days  of  persecution,  when  the  doors  were  shut 
for  fear  of  the  Jews,  at  other  times  in  gorgeous 
edifices  reared  by  the  munificence  of  princes,  amid 
ceremonial  pomp  and  splendour;  in  an  upper  room 
where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together,  in  the 
poor  brick  buildings  of  our  Wesleyan  or  Dissenting 
brethren,  in  cathedrals  like  Cologne  or  Milan,  filled 
from  end  to  end  with  a  sea  of  worshippers.  There 
is  no  Christian  structure  now  existing  in  the  world 
which  has  lasted  eighteen  centuries,  but  the  custom 
has  survived  them  all,  and  certainly  forms  a  truer 
link  with  primitive  antiquity  than  any  merely  external 
memorial.  (College  Sermons,  279-80.) 


V 
CHRISTIAN   DOCTRINES 

Justification  by  Faith 

THE  justice  of  God  may  lead  to  our  condemnation 
as  well  as  to  our  justification.  Are  we  then,  in 
the  language  of  the  ancient  tragedy,  to  say  that 
no  one  can  be  counted  happy  before  he  dies,  or 
that  salvation  is  only  granted  when  the  end  of  our 
course  is  seen  ?  Not  so ;  the  Gospel  encourages 
us  to  regard  ourselves  as  already  saved;  for  we 
have  communion  with  Christ  and  appropriate  His 
work  by  faith.  And  this  appropriation  means 
nothing  short  of  the  renunciation  of  self  and  the 
taking  up  of  the  cross  of  Christ  in  daily  life. 
Whether  such  an  imitation  or  appropriation  of  Christ 
is  illusive  or  real,  a  new  mould  of  nature  or  only 
an  outward  and  superficial  impression,  is  a  question 
not  to  be  answered  by  any  further  theological  distinc- 
tion, but  by  an  honest  and  good  heart  searching 
into  itself.  Then  only,  when  we  surrender  ourselves 
into  the  hands  of  God,  when  we  ask  Him  to  show 
us  to  ourselves  as  we  truly  are,  when  we  allow 
ourselves  in  no  sin,  when  we  attribute  nothing  to 
our  own  merits,  when  we  test  our  faith,  not  by  the 
sincerity  of  an  hour,  but  of  months  and  years,  we 
learn  the  true  meaning  of  that  word  in  which,  better 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  75 

than  any  other,  the  nature  of  righteousness  by  faith 
is  summed  up — peace. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  271.) 

Faith  may  be  spoken  of,  in  the  language  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  as  the  substance  of  things 
unseen.  But  what  are  the  things  unseen  ?  Not 
only  an  invisible  world  ready  to  flash  through  the 
material  at  the  appearance  of  Christ ;  not  angels,  or 
powers  of  darkness,  or  even  God  Himself  '  sitting/ 
as  the  Old  Testament  described,  '  on  the  circle  of 
the  heavens ' ;  but  the  kingdom  of  truth  and  justice, 
the  things  that  are  within,  of  which  God  is  the 
centre,  and  with  which  men  everywhere  by  faith 
hold  communion.  Faith  is  the  belief  in  the  exis- 
tence of  this  kingdom ;  that  is,  in  the  truth  and 
justice  and  mercy  of  God,  who  disposes  all  things — 
not,  perhaps,  in  our  judgement  for  the  greatest 
happiness  of  His  creatures,  but  absolutely  in  accor- 
dance with  our  moral  notions.  And  that  this  is  not 
seen  to  be  the  case  here,  makes  it  a  matter  of  faith 
that  it  will  be  so  in  some  way  that  we  do  not  at 
present  comprehend,  He  that  believes  on  God 
believes  first,  that  He  is ;  and,  secondly,  that  He 
is  the  Rewarder  of  them  that  seek  Him. 

Now,  if  we  go  on  to  ask  what  gives  this  assurance 
of  the  truth  and  justice  of  God,  the  answer  is,  the 
life  and  death  of  Christ,  who  is  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  Revelation  of  God.  We  know  what  He 
himself  has  told  us  of  God,  and  we  cannot  conceive 
perfect  goodness  separate  from  perfect  truth  ;  nay, 
this  goodness  itself  is  the  only  conception  we  can 
form  of  God,  if  we  confess  what  the  mere  immensity 
of  the  material  world  tends  to  suggest,  that  the 


76  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

Almighty  is  not  a  natural  or  even  a  supernatural 
power,  but  a  Being  of  whom  the  reason  and  con- 
science of  man  have  a  truer  conception  than  imagi- 
nation in  its  highest  flights.  He  is  not  in  the 
storm,  nor  in  the  thunder,  nor  in  the  earthquake, 
but  '  in  the  still  small  voice.'  And  this  image  of 
God  as  He  reveals  himself  in  the  heart  of  man 
is  '  Christ  in  us  the  hope  of  glory ' ;  Christ  as  He 
once  was  upon  earth  in  His  sufferings  rather  than 
His  miracles — the  image  of  goodness  and  truth 
and  peace  and  love. 

We  are  on  the  edge  of  a  theological  difficulty; 
for  who  can  deny  that  the  image  of  that  goodness 
may  fade  from  the  mind's  eye  after  so  many 
centuries,  or  that  there  are  those  who  recognize 
the  idea  and  may  be  unable  to  admit  the  fact  ? 
Can  we  say  that  this  error  of  the  head  is  also 
a  corruption  of  the  will  ?  The  lives  of  such  un- 
believers in  the  facts  of  Christianity  would  sometimes 
refute  our  explanation.  And  yet  it  is  true  that 
Providence  has  made  our  spiritual  life  dependent 
on  the  belief  in  certain  truths,  and  those  truths  run 
up  into  matters  of  fact,  with  the  belief  in  which 
they  have  ever  been  associated ;  it  is  true,  also,  that 
the  most  important  moral  consequences  flow  from 
unbelief.  We  grant  the  difficulty :  no  complete 
answer  can  be  given  to  it  on  this  side  the  grave. 
Doubtless  God  has  provided  a  way  that  the  sceptic 
no  less  than  the  believer  shall  receive  his  due ;  He 
does  not  need  our  timid  counsels  for  the  protection 
of  the  truth.  If  among  those  who  have  rejected 
the  facts  of  the  Gospel  history  some  have  been 
rash,  hypercritical,  inflated  with  the  pride  of  intellect, 
or  secretly  alienated  by  sensuality  from  the  faith 


ORIGINAL  SIN  77 

of  Christ — there  have  been  others,  also,  upon  whom 
we  may  conceive  to  rest  a  portion  of  that  blessing 
which  comes  to  such  as  'have  not  seen  and  yet 
have  believed/ 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  268-9.) 

Original  Sin 

The  figure  of  the  Apostle  bears  the  impress  of 
his  own  age  and  country  ;  the  interpretation  of  the 
figure  is  for  every  age,  and  for  the  whole  world. 
A  figure  of  speech  it  remains  still,  an  allegory  after 
the  manner  of  that  age  and  country,  but  yet  with 
no  uncertain  or  ambiguous  signification.  It  means 
that  '  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth ' ;  and  that  '  he  hath  concluded  all 
under  sin,  that  he  may  have  mercy  upon  all.'  It 
means  a  truth  deep  yet  simple — the  fact  which 
we  recognize  in  ourselves  and  trace  everywhere 
around  us — that  we  are  one  in  a  common  evil 
nature,  which,  if  it  be  not  derived  from  the  sin 
of  Adam,  exists  as  really  as  if  it  were.  It  means 
that  we  shall  be  made  one  in  Christ,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  in  a  measure  here,  more  fully  and  perfectly 
in  another  world.  It  means  that  Christ  is  the 
natural  head  of  the  human  race,  the  author  of  its 
spiritual  life.  It  shows  Him  to  us  as  He  enters 
within  the  veil,  in  form  as  a  man,  the  'first  fruits 
of  them  which  sleep.'  It  is  a  sign  or  intimation 
which  guides  our  thoughts  in  another  direction  also, 
beyond  the  world  ojf  which  religion  speaks,  to 
observe  what  science  tells  us  of  the  interdependence 
of  soul  and  body — what  history  tells  of  the  chain 
of  lives  and  events.  It  leads  us  to  reflect  on 


78  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

ourselves  not  as  isolated,  independent  beings ; — not 
such  as  we  appear  to  be  to  our  own  narrow  con- 
sciousness ;  but  as  we  truly  are — the  creatures  of 
antecedents  which  we  can  never  know,  fashioned 
by  circumstances  over  which  we  have  no  control. 
The  infant,  coming  into  existence  in  a  wonderful 
manner,  inherits  something,  not  from  its  parents 
only,  but  from  the  first  beginning  of  the  human 
race.  He  too  is  born  into  a  family  of  which  God 
in  Christ  is  the  Father.  There  is  enough  here 
to  meditate  upon — 'a  mystery  since  the  world  was' 
— without  the  '  weak  and  beggarly '  elements  of 
Rabbinical  lore.  We  may  not  encumber  St.  Paul 
4  with  the  things  which  he  destroyed/ 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  315-6.) 

Believing  in  the  existence  of  God,  and  comparing 
our  own  happier  lot  with  that  of  the  poor  and  suffer- 
ing whom  we  see  around  us,  we  cannot  justify  the 
ways  of  God  to  man  without  maintaining  that  there 
is  more  than  appears  ;  and  for  that  reason,  as  well  as 
for  other  reasons,  we  look  forward  to  a  future  life. 
But,  secondly,  we  feel  that  good  is  inseparable  from 
evil,  and  that  we  can  form  no  distinct  conception  of 
the  one  apart  from  the  other.  Both  seem  to  flow 
equally  from  the  free  agency  of  man,  and  if  we  were 
to  deny  the  existence  of  evil  we  should  be  compelled 
to  deny  the  existence  of  good.  This  shows  us  that 
we  must  not  be  too  certain  of  our  own  ideas  on  this 
subject,  and  that  some  part  of  the  difficulty  is  due  to 
the  use  of  a  word.  For  if,  instead  of  speaking  of 
the  existence  of  evil  in  the  world,  we  spoke  rather 
of  degrees  of  perfection  or  of  degrees  of  imperfection 
(and  what  do  we  mean  by  evil  more  than  this  ?),  that 


ORIGINAL  SIN  79 

part  of  terror  which  is  due  to  the  influence  of  lan- 
guage would  be  removed.  Logic  would  no  longer 
be  able  to  stand  over  us  like  a  hard  taskmaster  assert- 
ing the  omnipotence  of  God  and  the  existence  of 
evil,  and  requiring  us  to  draw  the  conclusion. 

But  still,  I  admit  that  evil,  under  whatever  name,  is 
a  reality  which  cannot  be  got  rid  of  by  any  new  use 
of  language.  And,  though  I  am  afraid  of  seeming 
to  carry  you  too  far  away  from  home,  there  is  another 
consideration  to  which  I  should  wish  to  draw  your 
attention.  It  is  not  the  mere  existence  of  evil,  but 
the  amount  of  evil  in  the  world  which  really  depresses 
us  and  seems  like  a  load  too  heavy  to  be  lifted  up. 
And  if  we  could  realize  to  ourselves  that  the  pur- 
poses of  God  are  known  to  us  in  part  only,  not 
merely  as  regards  another  life,  but  also  as  regards 
this ;  if  we  could  imagine  that  the  evil  and  disorder 
which  we  see  around  us  is  but  a  step  or  stage  in  the 
progress  towards  order  and  perfection,  then  our  con- 
ception of  evil  would  be  greatly  changed.  Geology 
tells  us  of  remote  ages  in  which  animals  wandered 
over  the  earth  when  as  yet  man  '  was  not,'  and  of 
ages  longer  and  more  distant  still  in  which  there  was 
no  breath  or  movement  of  living  creature  on  land  or 
sea.  So  slowly,  and  by  so  many  steps,  did  the  earth 
which  we  inhabit  attain  to  the  fullness  of  life  which 
we  see  around  us.  And  I  might  go  on  to  speak  of 
this  world  as  a  pebble  in  the  ocean  of  space,  as  no 
more  in  relation  to  the  universe  than  the  least  things 
are  to  the  greatest,  or  to  the  whole  earth.  But,  that 
we  may  not  become  dizzy  in  thinking  about  this, 
I  will  ask  you  to  consider  the  bearing  of  such  reflec- 
tions, which  are  simple  matters  of  fact,  on  our  present 
subject.  They  tend  to  show  us  how  small  a  part, 


So  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

not  only  of  the  physical,  but  also  of  the  moral  world, 
is  really  known  to  us.  They  suggest  to  us  that  the 
evil  and  suffering  which  we  see  around  us  may  be 
only  the  beginning  of  another  and  higher  state  of 
being,  to  be  realized  during  countless  ages  in  the 
history  of  man.  That  progress  of  which  we  think 
so  much,  from  barbarism  to  civilization,  or  from 
ancient  to  modern  times,  may  be  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  that  which  God  has  destined  for  the 
human  race.  And  if  we  were  living  in  those  happier 
times,  we  should  no  more  think  seriously  of  the 
misery  through  which  many  have  attained  to  that 
higher  state  of  being  than  we  should  think  of  some 
bad  dream,  or  dwell  on  some  aberration  or  perversity 
of  childhood  when  the  character  had  been  formed 
and  had  grown  up  to  the  stature  of  the  perfect  man. 
(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ,  44—7.) 

Atonement 

At  last  the  question  has  arisen  within,  as  well  as 
without,  the  Church  of  England  :  '  How  the  ideas 
of  expiation,  or  satisfaction,  or  sacrifice,  or  imputa- 
tion, are  reconcilable  with  the  moral  and  spiritual 
nature  either  of  God  or  man  ? '  Some  there  are 
who  answer  from  analogy,  and  cite  instances  of 
vicarious  suffering  which  appear  in  the  disorder  of  the 
world  around  us.  But  analogy  is  a  broken  reed ; 
of  use,  indeed,  in  pointing  out  the  way  where  its 
intimations  can  be  verified,  but  useless  when  applied 
to  the  unseen  world  in  which  the  eye  of  observation 
no  longer  follows.  Others  affirm  revelation  or  in- 
spiration to  be  above  criticism,  and,  in  disregard 
alike  of  Church  history  and  of  Scripture,  assume 


ATONEMENT  81 

their  own  view  of  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  to 
be  a  revealed  or  inspired  truth.  They  do  not  see 
that  they  are  cutting  off  the  branch  of  the  tree  on 
which  they  are  themselves  sitting.  For,  if  the  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement  cannot  be  criticized,  neither 
can  it  be  determined  what  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement ;  nor,  on  the  same  principles,  can  any  true 
religion  be  distinguished  from  any  false  one,  or  any 
truth  of  religion  from  any  error.  It  is  suicidal  in 
theology  to  refuse  the  appeal  to  a  moral  criterion. 
Others  add  a  distinction  of  things  above  reason  and 
things  contrary  to  reason ;  a  favourite  theological 
weapon,  which  has,  however,  no  edge  or  force,  so 
long  as  it  remains  a  generality.  Others,  in  like 
manner,  support  their  view  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement  by  a  theory  of  accommodation,  which 
also  loses  itself  in  ambiguity.  For  it  is  not  deter- 
mined whether,  by  accommodation  to  the  human 
faculties,  is  meant  the  natural  subjectiveness  of 
knowledge,  or  some  other  limitation  which  applies 
to  theology  only.  Others  regard  the  death  of 
Christ,  not  as  an  atonement  or  satisfaction  to  God, 
but  as  a  manifestation  of  His  righteousness,  a  theory 
which  agrees  with  that  of  Grotius  in  its  general 
character,  when  the  latter  is  stripped  of  its  techni- 
calities. This  theory  is  the  shadow  or  surface  of 
that  of  satisfaction  ;  the  human  analogy  equally  fails  ; 
the  punishment  of  the  innocent  for  the  guilty  is  not 
more  unjust  than  the  punishment  of  the  innocent  as 
an  example  to  the  guilty.  Lastly,  there  are  some 
who  would  read  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  '  in 
the  light  of  Divine  love  only  ' ;  the  object  of  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  being  to  draw  men's 
hearts  to  God  by  the  vision  of  redeeming  love  (com- 
G 


82  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

pare  Abelard),  and  the  sufferings  themselves  being 
the  natural  result  of  the  passage  of  the  Saviour 
through  a  world  of  sin  and  shame.  Of  these  ex- 
planations the  last  seems  to  do  the  least  violence  to 
our  moral  feelings.  Yet  it  would  surely  be  better 
to  renounce  any  attempt  at  inquiry  into  the  objective 
relations  of  God  and  man,  than  to  rest  the  greatest 
fact  in  the  history  of  mankind  on  so  slender  a  ground 
as  the  necessity  for  arousing  the  love  of  God  in  the 
human  heart,  in  this  and  no  other  way. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  353-4.) 

The  silence  of  our  Lord  in  the  Gospels  respecting 
any  doctrine  of  atonement  and  sacrifice,  the  variety 
of  expressions  which  occur  in  other  parts  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  fluctuation  and  uncertainty  both 
of  the  Church  and  individuals  on  this  subject  in  after- 
ages,  incline  us  to  agree  with  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
that  the  death  of  Christ  is  one  of  those  points  of 
faith  4  about  which  it  is  not  dangerous  to  be  mis- 
taken.' And  the  sense  of  the  imperfection  of 
language  and  the  illusions  to  which  we  are  subject 
from  the  influence  of  past  ideas,  the  consciousness 
that  doctrinal  perplexities  arise  chiefly  from  our 
transgression  of  the  limits  of  actual  knowledge,  will 
lead  us  to  desire  a  very  simple  statement  of  the 
work  of  Christ ;  a  statement,  however,  in  accor- 
dance with  our  moral  ideas,  and  one  which  will  not 
shift  and  alter  with  the  metaphysical  schools  of  the 
age  ;  one,  moreover,  which  runs  no  risk  of  being 
overthrown  by  an  increasing  study  of  the  Old 
Testament  or  of  ecclesiastical  history.  Endless 
theories  there  have  been  (of  which  the  preceding 
sketch  contains  only  a  small  portion),  and  many 


ATONEMENT  83 

more  there  will  be  as  time  goes  on,  like  mystery 
plays,  or  sacred  dramas  (to  adapt  Lord  Bacon's 
image),  which  have  passed  before  the  Church  and 
the  world.  To  add  another  would  increase  the 
confusion :  it  is  ridiculous  to  think  of  settling  a 
disputed  point  of  theology  unless  by  some  new 
method.  That  other  method  can  only  be  a  method 
of  agreement ;  little  progress  has  been  made  hitherto 
by  the  method  of  difference.  It  is  not  reasonable, 
but  extremely  unreasonable,  that  the  most  sacred 
of  all  books  should  be  the  only  one  respecting  the 
interpretation  of  which  there  is  no  certainty ;  that 
religion  alone  should  be  able  to  perpetuate  the 
enmities  of  past  ages  ;  that  the  influence  of  words 
and  names,  which  secular  knowledge  has  long  shaken 
off,  should  still  intercept  the  natural  love  of  Christians 
towards  one  another  and  their  Lord.  On  our 
present  subject  there  is  no  difficulty  in  finding 
a  basis  of  reconciliation;  the  way  opens  when 
logical  projections  are  removed,  and  we  look  at  the 
truth  in  what  may  be  rightly  termed  a  more  primitive 
and  Apostolical  manner.  For  all,  or  almost  all, 
Christians  would  agree  that  in  some  sense  or  other 
we  are  reconciled  to  God  through  Christ ;  whether 
by  the  atonement  and  satisfaction  which  He  made 
to  God  for  us,  or  by  His  manifestation  of  the 
justice  of  God  or  love  of  God  in  the  world,  by 
the  passive  obedience  of  His  death  or  the  active 
obedience  of  His  life,  by  the  imputation  of  His 
righteousness  to  us  or  by  our  identity  and  com- 
munion with  Him,  or  likeness  to  Him,  or  love  of 
Him;  in  some  one  of  these  senses,  which  easily 
pass  into  each  other,  all  would  join  in  saying  that 
'He  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.'  And 
G  2 


84  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

had  the  human  mind  the  same  power  of  holding 
fast  points  of  agreement  as  of  discerning  differences, 
there  would  be  an  end  of  the  controversy. 

The  statements  of  Scripture  respecting  the  work 
of  Christ  are  very  simple,  and  may  be  used  without 
involving  us  in  the  determination  of  these  differences. 
We  can  live  and  die  in  the  language  of  St.  Paul 
and  St.  John ;  there  is  nothing  there  repugnant  to 
our  moral  sense.  We  have  a  yet  higher  authority 
in  the  words  of  Christ  himself.  Only  in  repeating 
and  elucidating  these  statements,  we  must  remember 
that  Scripture  phraseology  is  of  two  kinds,  simple 
and  figurative,  and  that  the  first  is  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  second.  We  must  not  bring  the  New 
Testament  into  bondage  to  the  Old,  but  ennoble 
and  transfigure  the  Old  by  the  New. 

First ;  the  death  of  Christ  may  be  described  as 
a  sacrifice.  But  what  sacrifice  ?  Not  '  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  of  goats,  nor  the  ashes  of  an  heifer 
sprinkling  the  unclean,'  but  the  living  sacrifice  'to 
do  Thy  will,  O  God.'  It  is  a  sacrifice  which  is  the 
negation  of  sacrifice;  'Christ  the  end  of  the  law 
to  them  that  believe.'  Perad venture,  in  a  heathen 
country,  to  put  an  end  to  the  rite  of  sacrifice  '  some 
one  would  even  dare  to  die ' ;  that  expresses  the 
relation  in  which  the  offering  on  Mount  Calvary 
stands  to  the  Levitical  offerings.  It  is  the  death 
of  what  is  outward  and  local,  the  life  of  what  is 
inward  and  spiritual :  '  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  shall  draw  all  men  after  me  ; '  and  '  Neither 
in  this  mountain  nor  at  Jerusalem  shall  ye  worship 
the  Father.'  It  is  the  offering  up  of  the  old  world 
on  the  cross;  the  law  with  its  handwriting  of 
ordinances,  the  former  man  with  his  affections  and 


ATONEMENT  85 

lusts,  the  body  of  sin  with  its  remembrances  of 
past  sin.  It  is  the  New  Testament  revealed  in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  the  Gospel  of  freedom,  which 
draws  men  together  in  the  communion  of  one  spirit, 
as  in  St.  Paul's  time  without  respect  of  persons  and 
nations,  so  in  our  own  day  without  regard  to  the 
divisions  of  Christendom.  In  the  place  of  Churches, 
priesthoods,  ceremonials,  systems,  it  puts  a  moral 
and  spiritual  principle  which  works  with  them, 
not  necessarily  in  opposition  to  them,  but  beside 
or  within  them,  to  renew  life  in  the  individual 
soul. 

Again,  the  death  of  Christ  may  be  described  as 
a  ransom.  It  is  not  that  God  needs  some  payment 
which  He  must  receive  before  He  will  set  the 
captives  free.  The  ransom  is  not  a  human  ransom, 
any  more  than  the  sacrifice  is  a  Levitical  sacrifice. 
Rightly  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  this  Divine 
ransom,  we  must  begin  with  that  question  of  the 
Apostle  :  '  Know  ye  not  that  whose  servants  ye 
yield  yourselves  to  obey,  his  servants  ye  are  to 
whom  ye  obey,  whether  of  sin  unto  death,  or  of 
obedience  unto  righteousness  ? '  There  are  those 
who  will  reply :  '  We  were  never  in  bondage  at 
any  time/  To  whom  Christ  answers  :  ;  Whosoever 
committeth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin  ; '  and,  '  If  the 
Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed.' 
Ransom  is  '  deliverance  to  the  captive.'  There  are 
mixed  modes  here  also,  as  in  the  use  of  the  term 
sacrifice — the  word  has  a  temporary  allusive  reference 
to  a  Mosaical  figure  of  speech.  That  secondary 
allusive  reference  we  are  constrained  to  drop,  because 
it  is  unessential;  and  also  because  it  immediately 
involves  further  questions — a  ransom  to  whom  ?  for 


86  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

what  ? — about  which  Scripture  is  silent,  to  which 
reason  refuses  to  answer. 

Thirdly,  the  death  of  Christ  is  spoken  of  as 
a  death  for  us,  or  for  our  sins.  The  ambiguous 
use  of  the  preposition  *  for,'  combined  with  the 
figure  of  sacrifice,  has  tended  to  introduce  the  idea 
of  substitution ;  when  the  real  meaning  is  not  '  in 
our  stead,'  but  only  '  in  behalf  of,'  or  '  because  of 
us/  It  is  a  great  assumption,  or  an  unfair  deduction, 
from  such  expressions,  to  say  that  Christ  takes  our 
place,  or  that  the  Father  in  looking  at  the  sinner 
sees  only  Christ.  Christ  died  for  us  in  no  other 
sense  than  He  lived  or  rose  again  for  us.  Scripture 
affords  no  hint  of  His  taking  our  place  in  His  death 
in  any  other  way  than  He  did  also  in  His  life. 
He  Himself  speaks  of  His  'decease  which  He 
should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem,'  quite  simply: 
4  greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man 
lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends.'  The  words 
of  Caiaphas,  '  It  is  expedient  that  one  man  should 
die  for  this  nation/  and  the  comment  of  the  Evan- 
gelist, '  and  not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  he 
should  gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God 
that  are  scattered  abroad,'  afford  a  measure  of  the 
meaning  of  such  expressions.  Here,  too,  there 
are  mixed  modes  which  seem  to  be  inextricably 
blended  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  and  which 
theology  has  not  always  distinguished.  For  the 
thing  signified  is,  partly,  that  Christ  died  for  our 
sakes,  partly  that  He  died  by  the  hands  of  sinners, 
partly  that  He  died  with  a  perfect  and  Divine 
sympathy  for  human  evil  and  suffering.  But  this 
ambiguity  (which  we  may  silently  correct  or  explain) 
need  not  prevent  our  joining  in  words  which,  more 


ATONEMENT  87 

perhaps  than  any  others,  have  been  consecrated  by 
religious  use  to  express  the  love  and  affection  of 
Christians  towards  their  Lord. 

Now  suppose  some  one  who  is  aware  of  the 
plastic  and  accommodating  nature  of  language  to 
observe,  that  in  what  has  been  written  of  late  years 
on  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  he  has  noticed  an 
effort  made  to  win  for  words  new  senses,  and  that 
some  of  the  preceding  remarks  are  liable  to  this 
charge ;  he  may  be  answered,  first,  that  those  new 
senses  are  really  a  recovery  of  old  ones  (for  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament,  though  they  use  the 
language  of  the  time,  everywhere  give  it  a  moral 
meaning);  and,  secondly,  that  in  addition  to  the 
modes  of  conception  already  mentioned,  the  Scripture 
has  others  which  are  not  open  to  his  objection. 
And  those  who,  admitting  the  innocence  and 
Scriptural  character  of  the  expressions  already 
referred  to,  may  yet  fear  their  abuse,  and  therefore 
desire  to  have  them  excluded  from  articles  of  faith 
(just  as  many  Protestants,  though  aware  that  the 
religious  use  of  images  is  not  idolatry,  may  not  wish 
to  see  them  in  churches) — such  persons  may  find 
a  sufficient  expression  of  the  work  of  Christ  in 
other  modes  of  speech  which  the  Apostle  also  uses, 
(i)  Instead  of  the  language  of  sacrifice,  or  ransom, 
or  substitution,  they  may  prefer  that  of  communion 
or  identity.  (2)  Or  they  may  interpret  the  death 
of  Christ  by  His  life,  and  connect  the  bleeding 
form  on  Mount  Calvary  with  the  image  of  Him 
who  went  about  doing  good.  Or  (3)  they  may 
look  inward  at  their  own  souls,  and  read  there, 
inseparable  from  the  sense  of  their  own  unworthiness, 
the  assurance  that  God  will  not  desert  the  work  of 


88  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

His  hands,  of  which  assurance  the  death  of  Christ 
is  the  outward  witness  to  them.  There  are  other 
ways,  also,  of  conceiving  the  redemption  of  man 
which  avoid  controversy,  any  of  which  is  a  sufficient 
stay  of  the  Christian  life.  For  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  not  this  or  that  statement,  or  definition  of 
opinion,  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost.  And  the  cross  of  Christ  is  to 
be  taken  up  and  borne ;  not  to  be  turned  into  words, 
or  made  a  theme  of  philosophical  speculation. 

I.  Everywhere  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  Christian 
as  one  with  Christ.  He  is  united  with  Him,  not 
in  His  death  only,  but  in  all  the  stages  of  His 
existence;  living  with  Him,  suffering  with  Him, 
crucified  with  Him,  buried  with  Him,  rising  again 
with  Him,  renewed  in  His  image,  glorified  together 
with  Him ;  these  are  the  expressions  by  which  this 
union  is  denoted.  There  is  something  meant  by 
this  language  which  goes  beyond  the  experience 
of  ordinary  Christians,  something,  perhaps,  more 
mystical  than  in  these  latter  days  of  the  world  most 
persons  seem  to  be  capable  of  feeling,  yet  the  main 
thing  signified  is  the  same  for  all  ages,  the  knowledge 
and  love  of  Christ,  by  which  men  pass  out  of 
themselves  to  make  their  will  His  and  His  theirs, 
the  consciousness  of  Him  in  their  thoughts  and 
actions,  communion  with  Him,  and  trust  in  Him. 
Of  every  act  of  kindness  or  good  which  they  do 
to  others  His  life  is  the  type ;  of  every  act  of 
devotion  or  self-denial  His  death  is  the  type;  of 
every  act  of  faith  His  resurrection  is  the  type. 
And  often  they  walk  with  Him  on  earth,  not  in 
a  figure  only,  and  find  Him  near  them,  not  in  a 
figure  only,  in  the  valley  of  death.  They  experience 


ATONEMENT  89 

from  Him  the  same  kind  of  support  as  from  the 
sympathy  and  communion  of  an  earthly  friend.  That 
friend  is  also  a  Divine  power.  In  proportion  as 
they  become  like  Him,  they  are  reconciled  to  God 
through  Him  ;  they  pass  with  Him  into  the  relation- 
ship of  sons  of  God.  There  is  enough  here  for 
faith  to  think  of,  without  sullying  the  mirror  of 
God's  justice,  or  overclouding  His  truth.  We 
need  not  suppose  that  God  ever  sees  us  other  than 
we  really  are,  or  attributes  to  us  what  we  never  did. 
Doctrinal  statements,  in  which  the  nature  of  the 
work  of  Christ  is  most  exactly  defined,  cannot 
really  afford  the  same  support  as  the  simple  con- 
viction of  His  love. 

Again  (2),  the  import  of  the  death  of  Christ 
may  be  interpreted  by  His  life.  No  theological 
speculation  can  throw  an  equal  light  on  it.  From 
the  other  side  we  cannot  see  it,  but  only  from  this. 
Now  the  life  of  Christ  is  the  life  of  One  who  knew 
no  sin,  on  whom  the  shadow  of  evil  never  passed ; 
who  went  about  doing  good;  who  had  not  where 
to  lay  His  head ;  whose  condition  was  in  all  respects 
the  reverse  of  earthly  and  human  greatness ;  who 
also  had  a  sort  of  infinite  sympathy  or  communion 
with  all  men  everywhere ;  whom,  nevertheless,  His 
own  nation  betrayed  to  a  shameful  death.  It  is 
the  life  of  One  who  came  to  bear  witness  of  the 
truth,  who  knew  what  was  in  man,  and  never  spared 
to  rebuke  him,  yet  condemned  him  not;  Himself  with- 
out sin,  yet  One  to  whom  all  men  would  soonest  have 
gone  to  confess  and  receive  forgiveness  of  sin.  It 
is  the  life  of  One  who  was  in  constant  communion 
with  God  as  well  as  man ;  who  was  the  inhabitant 
of  another  world  while  outwardly  in  this.  It  is 


90  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

the  life  of  One  in  whom  we  see  balanced  and  united 
the  separate  gifts  and  graces  of  which  we  catch 
glimpses  only  in  the  lives  of  His  followers.  It  is 
a  life  which  is  mysterious  to  us,  which  we  forbear 
to  praise,  in  the  earthly  sense,  because  it  is  above 
praise,  being  the  most  perfect  image  and  embodiment 
that  we  can  conceive  of  Divine  goodness. 

And  the  death  of  Christ  is  the  fulfilment  and 
consummation  of  His  life,  the  greatest  moral  act 
ever  done  in  this  world,  the  highest  manifestation 
of  perfect  love,  the  centre  in  which  the  rays  of  love 
converge  and  meet,  the  extremest  abnegation  or 
annihilation  of  self.  It  is  the  death  of  One  who 
seals  with  His  blood  the  witness  of  the  truth  which 
He  came  into  the  world  to  teach,  which  therefore 
confirms  our  faith  in  Him  as  well  as  animates  our 
love.  It  is  the  death  of  One,  who  says  at  the  last 
hour,  'Of  them  that^Thou  gavest  Me,  I  have  not 
lost  one ' — of  One  who,  having  come  forth  from 
God,  and  having  finished  the  work  which  He  came 
into  the  world  to  do,  returns  to  God.  It  is  a  death 
in  which  all  the  separate  gifts  of  heroes  and  martyrs 
are  united  in  a  Divine  excellence — of  One  who 
most  perfectly  foresaw  all  things  that  were  coming 
upon  Him — who  felt  all,  and  shrank  not — of  One 
who,  in  the  hour  of  death,  set  the  example  to  His 
followers  of  praying  for  His  enemies.  It  is  a 
death  which,  more  even  than  His  life,  is  singular 
and  mysterious,  in  which  nevertheless  we  all  are 
partakers — in  which  there  was  the  thought  and 
consciousness  of  mankind  to  the  end  of  time,  which 
has  also  the  power  of  drawing  to  itself  the  thoughts 
of  men  to  the  end  of  time. 

Lastly,  there  is  a  true  Christian  feeling  in  many 


ATONEMENT  91 

other  ways  of  regarding  the  salvation  of  man,  of 
which  the  heart  is  its  own  witness,  which  yet 
admit,  still  less  than  the  preceding,  of  logical  rule 
and  precision.  He  who  is  conscious  of  his  own 
infirmity  and  sinfulness,  is  ready  to  confess  that  he 
needs  reconciliation  with  God.  He  has  no  proud 
thoughts :  he  knows  that  he  is  saved  '  not  of 
himself,  it  is  the  gift  of  God ' ;  the  better  he  is, 
the  more  he  feels,  in  the  language  of  Scripture, 
'that  he  is  an  unprofitable  servant/  Sometimes  he 
imagines  the  Father  'coming  out  to  meet  him, 
when  he  is  yet  a  long  way  off,'  as  in  the  parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son ;  at  other  times  the  burden  of 
sin  lies  heavy  on  him ;  he  seems  to  need  more 
support — he  can  approach  God  only  through  Christ. 
All  men  are  not  the  same  ;  one  has  more  of  the 
strength  of  reason  in  his  religion ;  another  more 
of  the  tenderness  of  feeling.  With  some,  faith 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  a  pure  and  spiritual 
morality;  there  are  others  who  have  gone  through 
the  struggle  of  St.  Paul  or  Luther,  and  attain  rest 
only  in  casting  all  on  Christ.  One  will  live  after 
the  pattern  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or  the 
Epistle  of  St.  James.  Another  finds  a  deep  con- 
solation and  meaning  in  a  closer  union  with  Christ ; 
he  will  'put  on  Christ,'  he  will  hide  himself  in 
Christ ;  he  will  experience  in  his  own  person  the 
truth  of  those  words  of  the  Apostle,  '  I  am  crucified 
with  Christ,  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me/  But  if  he  have  the  spirit  of 
moderation  that  there  was  in  St.  Paul,  he  will  not 
stereotype  these  true,  though  often  passing  feelings, 
in  any  formula  of  substitution  or  satisfaction  ;  still 
less  will  he  draw  out  formulas  of  this  sort  into 


92  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

remote  consequences.  Such  logical  idealism  is  of 
another  age ;  it  is  neither  faith  nor  philosophy  in 
this.  Least  of  all  will  he  judge  others  by  the 
circumstance  of  their  admitting  or  refusing  to  admit 
the  expression  of  his  individual  feelings  as  an  eternal 
truth.  He  shrinks  from  asserting  his  own  righteous- 
ness ;  he  is  equally  unwilling  to  affirm  that  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  is  imputed  to  him.  He  is 
looking  for  forgiveness  of  sins,  not  because  Christ 
has  satisfied  the  wrath  of  God,  but  because  God 
can  show  mercy  without  satisfaction :  he  may  have 
no  right  to  acquittal,  he  dare  not  say,  God  has  no 
right  to  acquit.  Yet  again,  he  is  very  far  from 
imagining  that  the  most  merciful  God  will  indis- 
criminately forgive ;  or  that  the  weakness  of  human 
emotions,  groaning  out  at  the  last  hour  a  few 
accustomed  phrases,  is  a  sufficient  ground  of  con- 
fidence and  hope.  He  knows  that  the  only  external 
evidence  of  forgiveness  is  the  fact  that  he  has 
ceased  to  do  evil ;  no  other  is  possible.  Having 
Christ  near  as  a  friend  and  a  brother,  and  making 
the  Christian  life  his  great  aim,  he  is  no  longer 
under  the  dominion  of  a  conventional  theology. 
He  will  not  be  distracted  by  its  phrases  from 
communion  with  his  fellow  men.  He  can  never 
fall  into  that  confusion  of  head  and  heart,  which 
elevates  matters  of  opinion  into  practical  principles. 
Difficulties  and  doubts  diminish  with  him,  as  he 
himself  grows  more  like  Christ,  not  because  he 
forcibly  suppresses  them,  but  because  they  become 
unimportant  in  comparison  with  purity,  and  holiness, 
and  love.  Enough  of  truth  for  him  seems  to  radiate 
from  the  person  of  the  Saviour.  He  thinks  more 
and  more  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ  as  the 


ATONEMENT  93 

expression  of  the  Divine.  He  has  found  the 
way  of  life — that  way  is  not  an  easy  way — but 
neither  is  it  beset  by  the  imaginary  perplexities  with 
which  a  false  use  of  the  intellect  in  religion  has 
often  surrounded  it. 

It  seems  to  be  an  opinion  which  is  gaining  ground 
among  thoughtful  and  religious  men,  that  in  theology, 
the  less  we  define  the  better.  Definite  statements 
respecting  the  relation  of  Christ  either  to  God  or 
man  are  only  figures  of  speech  ;  they  do  not  really 
pierce  the  clouds  which  'round  our  little  life.' 
When  we  multiply  words  we  do  not  multiply  ideas ; 
we  are  still  within  the  circle  of  our  own  minds. 
No  greater  calamity  has  even  befallen  the  Christian 
Church  than  the  determination  of  some  uncertain 
things  which  are  beyond  the  sphere  of  human 
knowledge.  A  true  instinct  prevents  our  entangling 
the  faith  of  Christ  with  the  philosophy  of  the  day ; 
the  philosophy  of  past  ages  is  a  still  more  imperfect 
exponent  of  it.  Neither  is  it  of  any  avail  to  assume 
revelation  or  inspiration  as  a  sort  of  shield,  or 
Catholicon,  under  which  the  weak  points  of  theology 
may  receive  protection.  For  what  is  revealed  or 
what  inspired  cannot  be  answered  a  priori;  the 
meaning  of  the  word  Revelation  must  be  determined 
by  the  fact,  not  the  fact  by  the  word. 

If  our  Saviour  were  to  come  again  to  earth, 
which  of  all  the  theories  of  atonement  and  sacrifice 
would  He  sanction  with  His  authority?  Perhaps 
none  of  them,  yet  perhaps  all  may  be  consistent 
with  a  true  service  of  Him.  The  question  has  no 
answer.  But  it  suggests  the  thought  that  we  shrink 
from  bringing  controversy  into  His  presence.  The 
same  kind  of  lesson  may  be  gathered  from  the  con- 


94  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

sideration  of  theological  differences  in  the  face  of 
death.  Who,  as  he  draws  near  to  Christ,  will  not 
feel  himself  drawn  towards  his  theological  opponents  ? 
At  the  end  of  life,  when  a  man  looks  back  calmly, 
he  is  most  likely  to  find  that  he  exaggerated  in 
some  things ;  that  he  mistook  party  spirit  for  a  love 
of  truth.  Perhaps,  he  had  not  sufficient  considera- 
tion for  others,  or  stated  the  truth  itself  in  a  manner 
which  was  calculated  to  give  offence.  In  the  heat 
of  the  struggle,  let  us  at  least  pause  to  imagine 
polemical  disputes  as  they  will  appear  a  year,  two 
years,  three  years  hence  ;  it  may  be,  dead  and  gone 
— certainly  more  truly  seen  than  in  the  hour  of 
controversy.  For  the  truths  about  which  we  are 
disputing  cannot  partake  of  the  passing  stir ;  they 
do  not  change  even  with  the  greater  revolutions  of 
human  things.  They  are  in  eternity;  and  the 
image  of  them  on  earth  is  not  the  movement  on 
the  surface  of  the  waters,  but  the  depths  of  the 
silent  sea.  Lastly,  as  a  measure  of  the  value  of 
such  disputes,  which  above  all  other  interests  seem 
to  have  for  a  time  the  power  of  absorbing  men's 
minds  and  rousing  their  passions,  we  may  carry 
our  thoughts  onwards  to  the  invisible  world,  and 
there  behold,  as  in  a  glass,  the  great  theological 
teachers  of  past  ages,  who  have  anathematized  each 
other  in  their  lives,  resting  together  in  the  communion 
of  the  same  Lord. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  359-69.) 

Predestination  and  Free  Will 

In   the    Old   Testament    the    only   election    of 
individuals  is  that  of  the  great  leaders  or  chiefs, 


PREDESTINATION  95 

who  are  identified  with  the  nation.  But  in  the 
New  Testament,  where  religion  has  become  a 
personal  and  individual  matter,  it  follows  that 
election  must  also  be  of  persons.  The  Jewish 
nation  knew,  or  seemed  to  know,  one  fact,  that 
they  were  the  chosen  people.  They  saw,  also, 
eminent  men  raised  up  by  the  hand  of  God  to  be 
the  deliverers  of  His  servants.  It  is  not  in  this 
4  historical '  way  that  the  Christian  becomes  con- 
scious of  his  individual  election.  From  within,  not 
from  without,  he  is  made  aware  of  the  purpose  of 
God  respecting  himself.  Living  in  close  and 
intimate  union  with  God,  having  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit  and  knowing  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  he 
begins  to  consider  with  St.  Paul,  '  When  it  pleased 
God,  who  separated  me  from  my  mother's  womb, 
to  reveal  his  Son  in  me.'  His  whole  life  seems 
a  sort  of  miracle  to  him ;  supernatural,  and  beyond 
other  men's  in  the  gifts  of  grace  which  he  has 
received.  If  he  asks  himself,  'Whence  was  this 
to  ire?'  he  finds  no  other  answer  but  that  God 
gave  them  'because  he  had  a  favour  unto  him.' 
He  recalls  the  hour  of  his  conversion,  when,  in 
a  moment,  he  was  changed  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  Or, 
perhaps,  the  dealings  of  God  with  him  have  been 
insensible,  yet  not  the  less  real ;  like  a  child,  he 
cannot  remember  the  time  when  he  first  began 
to  trust  the  love  of  his  parent.  How  can  he 
separate  himself  from  that  love  or  refuse  to  believe 
that  He  who  began  the  good  work  will  also  ac- 
complish it  unto  the  end  ?  At  which  step  in  the 
ladder  of  God's  mercy  will  he  stop  ?  '  Whom 
He  did  foreknow,  them  He  did  predestinate ;  whom 


96  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

He  did  predestinate,  them  He  also  called;  whom  He 
called,  them  He  justified  ;  whom  He  justified,  them 
He  also  glorified.' 

A  religious  mind  feels  the  difference  between 
saying,  '  God  chose  me ;  I  cannot  tell  why ;  not 
for  any  good  that  I  have  done ;  and  I  am  persuaded 
that  He  will  keep  me  unto  the  end ; '  and  saying, 
'  God  chooses  men  quite  irrespective  of  their  actions, 
and  predestines  them  to  eternal  salvation ;  '  and 
yet  more,  if  we  add  the  other  half  of  the  doctrine, 
'  God  refuses  men  quite  irrespective  of  their  actions, 
and  they  become  reprobates,  predestined  to  ever- 
lasting damnation.'  Could  we  be  willing  to  return 
to  that  stage  of  the  doctrine  which  St.  Paul  taught, 
without  comparing  contradictory  statements  or  draw- 
ing out  logical  conclusions — could  we  be  content 
to  rest  our  belief,  as  some  of  the  greatest,  even 
of  Calvinistic  divines  have  done,  on  fact  and  ex- 
perience, theology  would  be  no  longer  at  variance 
with  morality. 

'Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling;  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both 
to  do  and  to  will  of  His  good  pleasure,'  is  the 
language  of  Scripture,  adjusting  the  opposite  aspects 
of  this  question.  The  Armiman  would  say,  '  Work 
out  your  own  salvation ; '  the  Calvinist,  '  God 
worketh  in  you  both  to  do  and  to  will  of  His  good 
pleasure.  However  contradictory  it  may  sound, 
the  Scripture  unites  both ;  work  out  your  own 
salvation  with  fear  and  trembling;  for  it  is  God 
that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
good  pleasure. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  384-6.) 


NECESSITY  AND  FREE  WILL        97 

Attention  has  been  lately  called  to  the  phenomena 
(already  noticed)  of  the  uniformity  of  human  actions. 
The  observation  of  this  uniformity  has  caused  a  sort 
of  momentary  disturbance  in  the  moral  ideas  of 
some  persons,  who  seem  unable  to  get  rid  of  the 
illusion,  that  nature  compels  a  certain  number  of 
individuals  to  act  in  a  particular  way,  for  the  sake 
of  keeping  up  the  average.  Their  error  is,  that 
they  confuse  the  law,  which  is  only  the  expression 
of  the  fact,  with  the  cause  ;  it  is  as  though  they 
affirmed  the  universal  to  necessitate  the  particular. 
The  same  uniformity  appears  equally  in  matters  of 
chance.  Ten  thousand  throws  of  the  dice,  ceteris 
piaribus,  will  give  about  the  same  number  of  twos, 
threes,  sixes :  what  compulsion  was  there  here  ? 
So  ten  thousand  human  lives  will  give  a  nearly  equal 
number  of  forgeries,  thefts,  or  other  extraordinary 
actions.  Neither  is  there  compulsion  here;  it  is 
the  simple  fact.  It  may  be  said,  Why  is  the 
number  uniform  ?  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not 
uniform,  that  is  to  say,  it  is  in  our  power  to  alter 
the  proportions  of  crime  by  altering  its  circumstances. 
And  this  change  of  circumstances  is  not  separable 
from  the  act  of  the  legislator  or  private  individual 
by  which  it  may  be  accomplished,  which  is  in  turn 
suggested  by  other  circumstances.  The  will  or  the 
intellect  of  man  still  holds  its  place  as  the  centre 
of  a  moving  world.  But,  secondly,  the  imaginary 
power  of  this  uniform  number  affects  no  one  in 
particular;  it  is  not  required  that  A,  B,  C  should 
commit  a  crime,  or  transmit  an  undirected  letter, 
to  enable  us  to  fill  up  a  tabular  statement.  The 
fact  exhibited  in  the  tabular  statement  is  the  re- 
sult of  all  the  movements  of  all  the  wills  of  the 


98  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

ten  thousand  persons  who  are  made  the  subject  of 
analysis. 

It  is  possible  to  conceive  great  variations  in  such 
tables  ;  it  is  possible,  that  is,  to  imagine,  without 
any  change  of  circumstances,  a  thousand  persons 
executed  in  France  during  one  year  for  political 
offences,  and  none  the  next.  But  the  world  in 
which  this  phenomenon  was  observed  would  be 
a  very  different  sort  of  world  from  that  in  which 
we  live.  It  would  be  a  world  in  which  '  nations, 
like  individuals,  went  mad ' ;  in  which  there  was 
no  habit,  no  custom ;  almost,  we  may  say,  no  social 
or  political  life.  Men  must  be  no  longer  different, 
and  so  compensating  one  another  by  their  excel- 
lencies and  deficiencies,  but  all  in  the  same  extreme  ; 
as  if  the  waves  of  the  sea  in  a  storm  instead  of 
returning  to  their  level  were  to  remain  on  high. 
The  mere  statement  of  such  a  speculation  is  enough 
to  prove  its  absurdity.  And,  perhaps,  no  better 
way  could  be  found  of  disabusing  the  mind  of  the 
objections  which  appear  to  be  entertained  to  the 
fact  of  the  uniformity  of  human  actions,  than  a 
distinct  effort  to  imagine  the  disorder  of  the  world 
which  would  arise  out  of  the  opposite  principle. 

But  the  advocate  of  free  will  may  again  return  to 
the  charge,  with  an  appeal  to  consciousness.  '  Your 
freedom/  he  will  say,  c  is  but  half  freedom,  but 
I  have  that  within  which  assures  me  of  an  absolute 
freedom,  without  which  I  should  be  deprived  of 
what  I  call  responsibility/  No  man  has  seen  facts 
of  consciousness,  and  therefore  it  is  at  any  rate  fair 
that  before  they  are  received  they  shall  be  subjected 
to  analysis.  We  may  look  at  an  outward  object 
which  is  called  a  table ;  no  one  would  in  this  case 


FREE  WILL  99 

demand  an  examination  into  the  human  faculties 
before  he  admitted  the  existence  of  the  table.  But 
inward  facts  are  of  another  sort ;  that  they  really 
exist,  may  admit  of  doubt ;  that  they  exist  in  the 
particular  form  attributed  to  them,  or  in  any  particular 
form,  is  a  matter  very  difficult  to  prove.  Nothing 
is  easier  than  to  insinuate  a  mere  opinion,  under  the 
disguise  of  a  fact  of  consciousness. 

Consciousness  tells,  or  seems  to  tell,  of  an  ab- 
solute freedom ;  and  this  is  supposed  to  be  a  sufficient 
witness  of  the  existence  of  such  a  freedom.  But 
does  consciousness  tell  also  of  the  conditions  under 
which  this  freedom  can  be  exercised  ?  Does  it 
remind  us  that  we  are  finite  beings  ?  Does  it  present 
to  one  his  bodily,  to  another  his  mental  constitution  ? 
Is  it  identical  with  self-knowledge  ?  No  one  imagines 
this.  To  what,  then,  is  it  the  witness  ?  To  a  dim 
and  unreal  notion  of  freedom,  which  is  as  different 
from  the  actual  fact  as  dreaming  is  from  acting. 
No  doubt  the  human  mind  has  or  seems  to  have 
a  boundless  power,  as  of  thinking  so  also  of  willing. 
But  this  imaginary  power,  going  as  it  does  far 
beyond  experience,  varying  too  in  youth  and  age, 
greatest  often  in  idea  when  it  is  really  least,  cannot 
be  adduced  as  a  witness  for  what  is  inconsistent 
with  experience. 

The  question,  How  is  it  possible  for  us  to  be 
finite  beings,  and  yet  to  possess  this  consciousness 
of  freedom  which  has  no  limit?  may  be  partly 
answered  by  another  question :  How  is  it  possible 
for  us  to  acquire  any  ideas  which  transcend  ex- 
perience ?  The  answer  is,  only,  that  the  mind  has 
the  power  of  forming  such  ideas;  it  can  conceive 
a  beauty,  goodness,  truth,  which  has  no  existence 
H  2 


ioo  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

on  earth.  The  conception,  however,  is  subject  to 
this  law,  that  the  greater  the  idealization  the  less 
the  individuality.  In  like  manner  that  imperfect 
freedom  which  we  enjoy  as  finite  beings  is  magnified 
by  us  into  an  absolute  idea  of  freedom,  which  seems 
to  be  infinite  because  it  drops  out  of  sight  the  limits 
with  which  nature  in  fact  everywhere  surrounds  us ; 
and  also  because  it  is  the  abstraction  of  self,  of  which 
we  can  never  be  deprived,  and  which  we  conceive  to 
be  acting  still  when  all  the  conditions  of  action  are 
removed. 

Freedom  is  absolute  in  another  sense,  as  the 
correlative  of  obligation.  Men  entertain  some  one, 
some  another,  idea  of  right,  but  all  are  bound  to 
act  according  to  that  idea.  The  standard  may  be 
relative  to  their  own  circumstances,  but  the  duty  is 
absolute ;  and  the  power  is  also  absolute  of  refusing 
the  evil  and  choosing  the  good,  under  any  possible 
contingency.  It  is  a  matter  (not  only  of  conscious- 
ness but)  of  fact,  that  we  have  such  a  power,  quite 
as  much  as  the  facts  of  statistics,  to  which  it  is 
sometimes  opposed,  or  rather,  to  speak  more  cor- 
rectly, is  one  of  them.  And  when  we  make  ab- 
straction of  this  power,  that  is,  when  we  think  of  it 
by  itself,  there  arises  also  the  conception  of  an 
absolute  freedom. 

So  singularly  is  human  nature  constituted,  looking 
from  without  on  the  actions  of  men  as  they  are, 
witnessing  inwardly  to  a  higher  law.  '  You  ought 
to  do  so ;  you  have  the  power  to  do  so,'  is  con- 
sistent with  the  fact,  that  in  practice  you  fail  to  do 
so.  It  may  be  possible  for  us  to  unite  both  these 
aspects  of  human  nature,  yet  experience  seems  to 
show  that  we  commonly  look  first  at  one  and  then 


FREE  WILL  101 

at  the  other.  The  inward  vision  tells  us  the  law  of 
duty  and  the  will  of  God ;  the  outward  contempla- 
tion of  ourselves  and  others  shows  the  trials  to 
which  we  are  most  subject.  Any  transposition  of 
these  two  points  of  view  is  fatal  to  morality.  For 
the  proud  man  to  say,  '  I  inherited  pride  from  my 
ancestors  ; '  or  for  the  licentious'  man  to  say,  ' It  is ' 
in  the  blood ; '  for  the  weak  man  to  say,  '  I  am 
weak,  and  will  not  strive;'  , for  any  to  find  the 
excuses  of  their  vices  in  their  physical  temperament 
or  external  circumstances,  is  the  corruption  of  their 
nature. 

Yet  this  external  aspect  of  human  affairs  has 
a  moral  use.  It  is  a  duty  to  look  at  the  conse- 
quences of  actions,  as  well  as  at  actions  themselves ; 
the  knowledge  of  our  own  temperament,  or  strength, 
or  health,  is  a  part  also  of  the  knowledge  of  self. 
We  have  need  of  the  wise  man's  warning,  about 
4  age  which  will  not  be  defied '  in  our  moral  any 
more  than  in  our  physical  constitution.  In  youth, 
also,  there  are  many  things  outward  and  indifferent, 
which  cannot  but  exercise  a  moral  influence  on  after- 
life. Often  opportunities  of  virtue  have  to  be  made, 
as  well  as  virtuous  efforts ;  there  are  forms  of  evil, 
too,  against  which  we  struggle  in  vain  by  mere 
exertions  of  the  will.  He  who  trusts  only  to  a 
moral  or  religious  impulse,  is  apt  to  have  aspirations, 
which  never  realize  themselves  in  action.  His  moral 
nature  may  be  compared  to  a  spirit  without  a  body, 
fluttering  about  in  the  world,  but  unable  to  compre- 
hend or  grasp  any  good. 

Yet  more,  in  dealing  with  classes  of  men,  we 
seem  to  find  that  we  have  greater  power  to  shape 
their  circumstances  than  immediately  to  affect  their 


102  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

wills.  The  voice  of  the  preacher  passes  into  the 
air ;  the  members  of  his  congregation  are  like  per- 
sons '  beholding  their  natural  face  in  a  glass  ' ;  they 
go  their  way,  forgetting  their  own  likeness.  And 
often  the  result  of  a  long  life  of  ministerial  work  has 
been  the  conversion  of  two  or  three  individuals. 
'  The  power  which  is  exerted  in  such  a  case  may  be 
compared  to  the  unaided  use  of  the  hand,  while 
mechanical  appliances  are  neglected.  Or  to  turn 
to  another  field  of  labour,  in  which  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  has  been  hitherto  small,  may 
not  the  reason  why  the  result  of  missions  is  often 
disappointing  be  found  in  the  circumstance,  that  we 
have  done  little  to  improve  the  political  or  industrial 
state  of  those  among  whom  our  missionaries  are 
sent  ?  We  have  thought  of  the  souls  of  men,  and 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  influencing  them,  in  too  naked 
a  way ;  instead  of  attending  to  the  complexity  of 
human  nature,  and  the  manner  in  which  God  has 
ever  revealed  himself  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

The  great  lesson,  which  Christians  have  to  learn 
in  the  present  day,  is  to  know  the  world  as  it  is ; 
that  is  to  say,  to  know  themselves  as  they  are  ; 
human  life  as  it  is  ;  nature  as  it  is ;  history  as  it  is. 
Such  knowledge  is  also  a  power,  to  fulfil  the  will  of 
God  and  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  man.  It 
is  a  resting-place  in  speculation,  and  a  new  beginning 
in  practice.  Such  knowledge  is  the  true  reconcile- 
ment of  the  opposition  of  necessity  and  free  will. 
Not  that  spurious  reconcilement  which  places  neces- 
sity in  one  sphere  of  thought,  freedom  in  another ; 
nor  that  pride  of  freedom  which  is  ready  to  take  up 
arms  against  plain  facts ;  nor  yet  that  demonstration 
of  necessity  in  which  logic,  equally  careless  of  facts, 


HEREDITY  103 

has  bound  fast  the  intellect  of  man.  The  whole 
question,  when  freed  from  the  illusions  of  language, 
is  resolvable  into  experience.  Imagination  cannot 
conquer  for  us  more  than  that  degree  of  freedom 
which  we  truly  have  ;  the  tyranny  of  science  cannot 
impose  upon  us  any  law  or  limit  to  which  we  are  not 
really  subject ;  theology  cannot  alter  the  real  relations 
of  God  and  man.  The  facts  of  human  nature  and 
of  Christianity  remain  the  same,  whether  we  describe 
them  by  the  word  '  necessity '  or  '  freedom,3  in  the 
phraseology  of  Lord  Bacon  and  Locke,  or  in  that 
of  Calvin  and  Augustine. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  404-9.) 

We  hear  a  great  deal  of  the  doctrine  of  heredity 
nowadays,  and  there  is  value  in  such  observations, 
if  they  teach  us  the  direction  in  which  the  greatest 
resistance  has  to  be  made.  We  do  not  wish  to 
ignore  the  inherited  evil  tendencies  of  men,  but 
effectually  to  combat  them,  and  therefore  we  must 
arouse  in  our  minds  the  consciousness  of  freedom ; 
not  that  blind  freedom  which  supposes  that  in  a 
moment  of  time  any  change  may  be  made  in  our 
mental  and  moral  constitution  (which  is  as  absurd  as 
to  suppose  that  by  a  sudden  effort  a  man  can  fly  in 
the  air,  or  by  the  lifting  up  of  his  arm  stop  some 
mechanical  power),  but  that  intelligent  freedom 
which  knows  how  great  an  effect  may  be  produced 
by  the  continuous  exertion  of  a  very  small  force 
during  many  years,  whether  on  the  mind  or  the 
body.  About  the  works  of  the  machine  we  know 
far  more  than  formerly,  but  this  knowledge  will  be 
worse  than  useless  if  it  paralyses  the  will. 

(College  Sermons ',  239.) 


104  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 


The  Divine  Attributes 

If  we  attribute  to  God  perfect  justice,  we  cannot 
say  He  will  pass  over  our  offences  without  punish- 
ment ;  or  that,  having  regard  to  the  frailty  of  His 
creatures,  He  views  with  equal  favour  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked.  But  we  can  say  that  nothing 
accidental,  nothing  capricious,  enters  into  His 
government ;  He  will  not  inflict  disproportionate 
punishment,  He  will  not  lay  down  arbitrary  con- 
ditions which  He  insists  on  our  fulfilling ;  He  will 
not  fix  a  time  before  which  all  may  be  retrieved, 
after  which  all  is  for  ever  lost.  We  are  right  in 
assuming  this  about  God,  because  we  should  infer 
it  about  any  just  or  good  man.  To  suppose  any- 
thing else  would  be  to  suppose  that  the  justice  of 
God  falls  short  even  of  a  moderate  degree  of  human 
justice.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  comfort,  not  with- 
out awe,  in  all  this.  And  we  may  go  a  step  further. 
For  the  justice  of  God  is  based  upon  perfect  know- 
ledge. He  sees  not  only  all  the  evil  but  all  the 
good  which  is  in  us,  the  unexpressed  wish  to  become 
better,  the  least  sense  of  sorrow  for  the  past ;  and 
often  He  does  not  judge  us  as  man  judges  us. 

So  again  of  His  love  and  truth.  The  Scripture 
tells  us  that  God  is  love,  and  that  He  wills  all  men 
to  be  saved.  Or,  again,  '  He  concluded  all  in  un- 
belief, that  He  might  have  mercy  upon  all.'  There 
is  no  qualification  of  this  ;  no  exception  to  it.  Can 
it  be  limited  to  those  who  have  heard  the  message 
of  Christ  and  been  saved  by  believing  on  Him  ? 
The  idea  of  Divine  love  carries  us  far  beyond  this, 
to  think  of  a  love  of  God  which  is  inexhaustible, 


DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES  105 

not  confined  to  the  good  only,  but  extended  to  all, 
and  not  resting  satisfied  while  even  a  single  indi- 
vidual among  His  creatures  remains  estranged  from 
Him.  There  may  be  ways  by  which  He  has  pro- 
vided that  ;  His  banished  ones  be  not  expelled  from 
Him.'  We  shall  do  well  to  think  of  the  state  of 
being  in  which  we  are  here,  of  that  in  which  we 
shall  be  hereafter,  as  a  state  of  education  in  which 
He  is  drawing  us  nearer  to  Himself  and  to  the 
truth.  Of  such  things  we  may  meditate,  although 
we  cannot  describe  or  define  them.  They  are  hidden 
from  our  eyes,  like  that  time  of  which  the  Apostle 
speaks  in  the  words  of  the  text,  'When  the  Son 
Himself  shall  be  subject  unto  Him  that  put  all 
things  under  Him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all.'  But 
although  we  are  unable  to  tell  in  what  manner  the 
work  of  love  can  be  accomplished,  any  more  than 
we  can  tell  how  the  dead  are  raised  up,  we  do  not 
therefore  cease  to  acknowledge,  in  the  fullness  of  its 
consequences,  the  first  and  greatest  of  all  articles  of 
belief,  that  God  is  Love. 

Once  more,  if  God  is  truth,  what  is  the  infer- 
ence ?  It  is  not  a  particular  truth,  but  all  truth, 
which  we  must  identify  with  Him  ;  the  truths  of 
science  as  well  as  the  truths  of  religion  or  morals  ; 
the  temper  of  truth  everywhere,  even  when  seemingly 
antagonistic  to  Christianity.  Is  not  this  again  an 
enlargement  of  our  idea  of  God  ?  To  the  student, 
especially  in  these  days,  the  thought  that  any  in- 
quiry honestly  pursued  cannot  be  displeasing  to  the 
God  of  truth  is  a  great  source  of  peace  and  comfort. 
He  is  better  able  to  meet  the  attacks  of  his  fellow 
men  when  he  is  stayed  upon  the  God  of  truth,  and 
he  feels  that  his  duty  towards  knowledge  is  also 


io6  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

a  duty  towards  God.  He  is  conscious  that  his  life 
is  innocent,  though  many  may  condemn  him.  And 
sometimes  he  will  seem  to  see  the  God  of  truth 
looking  down  upon  the  violence  and  party  spirit  of 
the  world  and  of  the  Church. 

These  three — justice,  love,  truth — are  the  three 
great  attributes  of  the  Divine  nature,  aspects  of  the 
one  perfection  which  God  is.  When  they  meet  in 
our  hearts  God  may  be  said  to  take  up  His  abode 
within  us. 

Let  us  take  away  with  us  the  thought  of  a  great 
writer — '  Certainly,  it  is  heaven  upon  earth  to  have 
a  man's  mind  move  in  charity,  rest  in  providence, 
and  turn  upon  the  poles  of  truth.' 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  109—12.) 

It  is  a  maxim  of  human  law  that  the  most 
effectual  punishment  is  that  which  is  most  duly 
proportioned  to  the  crime.  This  is  illustrated  by 
the  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  conviction  or  executing 
a  penalty  when  the  punishment  is  too  great  for  the 
offence.  Human  nature  revolts  at  it.  Neither  is 
the  Divine  penalty  really  more  terrible  because  sup- 
posed to  be  infinite.  For  this  is  only  vague  and 
unreal,  a  penalty  which  no  one  applies  to  himself, 
and  to  which  the  heart  and  conscience  bear  no 
witness.  But  still  there  is  a  comfort  in  feeling  that 
we  are  in  the  hands  of  God;  we  do  not  seek  to 
avoid  just  punishment,  and  He  will  not  suffer  us  to 
be  punished  above  what  we  deserve.  For  '  shall 
not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? '  will  His 
judgement  fall  short  of  the  simple  rules  of  human 
justice  ?  Nay,  surely,  He  will  not  fall  short  of  this ; 
He  will  exceed  it.  Neither  will  His  justice  depend 


HOLINESS  107 

upon  accidents ;  neither  will  He  '  take  me  at  a  catch,' 
as  has  been  roughly  but  truly  said ;  nor  will  He 
divide  men  into  two  classes  only  where  there  are 
many  classes,  or  rather  infinite  degrees  of  them. 
Nor  will  He  judge  them  by  any  narrow  or  technical 
rules,  but  by  the  broad  principles  of  right  and  wrong. 
Slowly  in  the  course  of  ages  mankind  have  shaken 
off  superstitions  about  God,  and  learned  the  simple 
truth  that  God  is  just,  which  seems  to  be  the  begin- 
ning of  religion,  and  yet  is  hardly  understood  even 
now  in  all  its  fullness.  There  is  probably  no  one 
in  this  church,  father,  mother,  or  any  one  else,  who 
could  for  a  moment  tolerate  the  idea  that  an  un- 
baptized  infant  would  suffer  everlasting  torments. 
Remember  that  this  was  once  the  faith  of  nearly 
the  whole  Christian  world,  and  ask  yourself  whether, 
in  these  latter  days,  which  are  sometimes  supposed 
to  be  rife  with  unbelief,  Christians  have  not  made 
some  progress  towards  a  truer  conception  of  the 
ways  of  God  to  man. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  169-71.) 

There  is  one  word  hardly  translatable  into  other 
languages,  because  the  Israelitish  prophets  have 
themselves  infused  into  it  a  depth  of  meaning,  under 
which  all  the  attributes  of  God  are  comprehended. 
This  is  '  holiness ' ;  and  God  is  called  by  them 
'  the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity, 
whose  name  is  holy.'  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  com- 
prehend the  whole  signification  of  this  word.  It 
means  moral  goodness,  it  means  righteousness,  it 
means  truth,  it  means  purity — but  it  means  more 
than  these.  It  means  the  spirit  which  is  altogether 
above  the  world,  and  yet  has  an  affinity  with  good- 


ioS  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

ness  and  truth  in  the  world.  It  implies  separation 
as  well  as  elevation,  dignity  as  well  as  innocence. 
It  is  the  personification  of  the  idea  of  good.  It  is 
the  light  of  which  the  whole  earth  is  full,  which 
is  also  the  fire  which  burns  up  the  ungodly.  It  has 
a  side  of  awe  as  well  as  of  goodness.  It  suggests 
the  thought,  not  of  direct  punishment  or  suffering 
to  be  inflicted  on  the  wicked,  but  rather,  '  How  can 
we  sinners  venture  into  the  presence  of  a  holy  God  ? 
What  unclean  person  can  behold  His  face  and 
live  ? '  Like  other  ideas  of  perfection,  it  may  be 
called,  in  the  language  of  philosophy,  transcendental, 
that  is  to  say,  not  wholly  capable  of  being  expressed 
in  human  language.  After  we  have  combined  all 
the  aspects  of  truth  or  goodness  in  one,  there  remains 
something  more  which  is  above  us,  which  we  can 
feel  rather  than  describe. 

But  what  is  necessarily  indistinct  to  us  when  we 
endeavour  to  carry  our  thoughts  beyond  this  world 
becomes  clearer  to  us  when  we  return  to  earth  and 
think,  not  of  God,  but  of  man.  The  holiness  of 
God  is  that  image  of  Himself  which  He  seeks  to 
implant  in  all  His  creatures.  '  Be  ye  holy  even 
as  I  am  holy,'  are  words  in  which  the  whole  of 
religion  may  be  summed  up.  And  though  we  are 
not  able  to  look  at  the  sun  in  his  strength,  we  may 
yet  see  him  through  a  glass  darkly  or  in  human 
reflections  of  him.  Thus,  for  example,  if  we  were 
to  attempt  to  define  or  describe  the  meaning  of  the 
term  once  more  with  reference  to  man,  we  should 
find  that  there  were  very  few  to  whom  we  could 
venture  to  apply  it.  It  means,  in  the  first  place, 
perfect  disinterestedness,  indifference  to  earthly  and 
human  interests.  Again,  it  implies  a  mind  one 


PRAYER  109 

with  God,  over  which  no  shadow  of  uncleanness 
or  untruth  ever  passes,  which  seeks  only  to  know 
His  will,  and  knowing  it,  to  carry  it  out  in  the 
world.  To  purity  and  truth  it  adds  peace  and 
a  certain  dignity  derived  from  independence  of  all 
things.  It  is  heaven  upon  earth — to  live  loving 
all  men,  disturbed  by  nothing,  fearing  nothing.  It 
is  a  temper  of  mind  which  is  unshaken  by  changes 
of  religious  opinion,  which  is  not  dependent  upon 
outward  observances  of  religion.  Such  a  character 
we  may  meet  with  once  or  twice  in  a  long  life,  and 
derive  a  sort  of  inspiration  from  it.  And  oh  !  that 
it  were  possible  that  some  of  us  might,  even  in  the 
days  of  our  youth,  find  the  blessedness  of  leading 
such  a  life  in  the  light  of  God's  presence  always. 
(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  7I~3>) 

Prayer 

Prayer  is  the  summing  up  of  the  Christian  life 
in  a  definite  act,  which  is  at  once  inward  and 
outward,  the  power  of  which  on  the  character,  like 
that  of  any  other  act,  is  proportioned  to  its  inten- 
sity. The  imagination  of  doing  rightly  adds  little 
to  our  strength ;  even  the  wish  to  do  so  is  not  neces- 
sarily accompanied  by  a  change  of  heart  and  con- 
duct. But  in  prayer  we  imagine,  and  wish,  and 
perform  all  in  one.  Our  imperfect  resolutions  are 
offered  up  to  God ;  our  weakness  becomes  strength, 
our  words  deeds.  No  other  action  is  so  mysterious ; 
there  is  none  in  which  we  seem,  in  the  same 
manner,  to  renounce  ourselves  that  we  may  be  one 
with  God. 

Of  what  nature  that  prayer  is  which  is  effectual 


i  io  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

to  the  obtaining  of  its  requests  is  a  question  of  the 
same  kind  as  what  constitutes  a  true  faith.  That 
prayer,  we  should  reply,  which  is  itself  most  of  an 
act,  which  is  most  immediately  followed  by  action, 
which  is  most  truthful,  manly,  self-controlled,  which 
seems  to  lead  and  direct,  rather  than  to  follow,  our 
natural  emotions.  That  prayer  which  is  its  own 
answer  because  it  asks  not  for  any  temporal  good, 
but  for  union  with  God.  That  prayer  which  begins 
with  the  confession,  'We  know  not  what  to  pray 
for  as  we  ought ; '  which  can  never  by  any  possibility 
interfere  with  the  laws  of  nature,  because  even  in 
extremity  of  danger  or  suffering,  it  seeks  only  the 
fulfilment  of  His  will.  That  prayer  which  acknow- 
ledges that  our  enemies,  or  those  of  a  different 
faith,  are  equally  with  ourselves  in  the  hands  of 
God ;  in  which  we  never  unwittingly  ask  for  our 
own  good  at  the  expense  of  others.  That  prayer 
in  which  faith  is  strong  enough  to  submit  to  ex- 
perience ;  in  which  the  soul  of  man  is  nevertheless 
conscious  not  of  any  self-produced  impression,  but 
of  a  true  communion  with  the  Author  and  Maker 
of  his  being. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  129-30.) 

The  beginning  of  true  prayer  is  resignation  to  the 
Divine  will.  We  must  not  try  to  make  His  will  our 
will,  but  to  make  our  will  His  will.  We  must  not 
kick  against  the  pricks,  or  beg  that  this  sickness  or 
pain,  the  loss  of  this  beloved  one,  may  be  averted 
from  us.  For  God  has  taught  us  by  many  signs  and 
proofs  that  these  things  are  regulated  by  fixed  laws. 
And  is  there  not  a  kind  of  impiety  in  refusing  to 
learn  the  plainest  of  lessons  ?  Now  that  the  book 


PRAYER  in 

of  nature  has  been  revealed  to  us,  must  we  not  have 
the  courage  to  say,  a  little  parodying  the  words  of 
the  prophet,  'Henceforth  there  shall  be  no  more 
this  prayer  in  the  Christian  Church,  "  Father,  alter 
Thy  laws  for  our  good";  but  "  Father,  if  it  be 
possible  .  .  .  nevertheless  not  my  will,  but  Thine 
be  done  "  '  ?  We  wish  to  live,  perhaps,  and  accom- 
plish a  little  more  before  we  go  home ;  but  we  know 
very  well  that  our  prayers  will  not  delay  the  coming 
on  of  age,  or  restore  the  failing  sight,  or  revive  the 
strength  of  the  paralysed.  '  It  is  the  Lord ;  let 
Him  do  what  seemeth  Him  good.'  And  in  youth 
there  are  often  troubles  which  happen  to  us,  great  in 
themselves,  and  rendered  greater  by  imagination,  such 
as  loss  of  fortune,  or  inferiority  of  position,  or  dis- 
appointment of  the  affections,  or  some  other  kind  of 
disappointment ;  and  we  think  with  bitterness,  '  Oh, 
that  we  could  have  this  particular  trial  spared  to  us ; 
that  we  could  have  had  the  position  of  which  we 
could  have  made  such  a  good  use  ;  the  friend  with- 
out whom  life  seems  hardly  worth  having ! '  But 
all  this  is  weakness  and  discontent.  Can  we  not 
rise  out  of  these  crises  of  our  lives,  acquiescing  in 
the  will  of  God,  but  starting  afresh  to  do  Him 
service,  making  stepping-stones  of  our  former  selves 
towards  something  higher,  setting  our  hearts  where 
true  joys  are  to  be  found  ?  We  cannot  go  to  God 
and  say,  '  O  God,  give  me  the  life  of  that  child,  or 
sister,  or  wife,  who  is  visibly  hastening  to  the  end.' 
But  we  can  say,  4  Though  He  smite  me,  yet  will 
I  trust  in  Him ; '  '  the  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 
Neither  can  we  go  to  Him  and  say,  '  O  Lord,  give 
me  wealth,'  or  even,  '  give  me  a  sufficiency  of  the 


112  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

means  of  life,  that  I  may  make  a  good  use  of  them.' 
But  we  can  go  to  Him  and  say,  4O  Lord,  we  thank 
Thee  for  the  blessings  which  Thou  hast  given  us, 
and  for  the  sorrows  by  which  Thou  hast  chastened 
us.  Grant  that  we  may  draw  nearer  to  Thee,  and 
do  Thy  will  more  perfectly.'  What  is  this  but 
praying  that  we  may  be  more  holy,  more  pure,  more 
just,  more  truthful,  more  willing  to  live  for  others  ? 
Can  we  offer  up  such  prayers  too  often,  or  have  too 
many  of  them  ? 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  254—6.) 

Regarding  prayer  not  so  much  as  consisting  of 
particular  acts  of  devotion,  but  as  the  spirit  of  life, 
it  seems  to  be  the  spirit  of  harmony  with  the  will 
of  God.  It  is  the  aspiration  after  all  good,  the 
wish,  stronger  than  any  earthly  passion  or  desire, 
to  live  in  His  service  only.  It  is  the  temper  of 
mind  which  says  in  the  evening,  '  Lord,  into  Thy 
hands  I  commend  my  spirit ; '  which  rises  up  in 
the  morning,  '  To  do  Thy  will,  O  God ; '  and 
which  all  the  day  regards  the  actions  of  business 
and  of  daily  life  as  done  unto  the  Lord  and  not  to 
men — '  Whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  whatever  ye  do, 
do  all  to  the  glory  of  God.'  The  trivial  employ- 
ments, the  meanest  or  lowest  occupations,  may 
receive  a  kind  of  dignity  when  thus  converted  into 
the  service  of  God.  Other  men  live  for  the  most 
part  in  dependence  on  the  opinion  of  their  fellow 
men ;  they  are  the  creatures  of  their  own  interests, 
they  hardly  see  anything  clearly  in  the  mists  of 
their  own  self-deceptions.  But  he  whose  mind 
is  resting  in  God  rises  above  the  petty  aims  and 
interests  of  men ;  he  desires  only  to  fulfil  the  Divine 


PRAYER  113 

will,  he  wishes  only  to  know  the  truth.  His  eye  is 
single,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  and  his  whole 
body  is  full  of  light.  The  light  of  truth  and  dis- 
interestedness flows  into  his  soul ;  the  presence  of 
God,  like  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  warms  his  heart. 
Such  a  one,  whom  I  have  imperfectly  described, 
may  be  no  mystic ;  he  may  be  one  among  us  whom 
we  know  not,  undistinguished  by  any  outward  mark 
from  his  fellow  men,  yet  carrying  within  him  a 
hidden  source  of  truth  and  strength  and  peace. 
(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  274—  5») 

There  is  yet  another  aspect  in  which  prayer  may 
be  regarded,  as  the  language  which  the  soul  uses  to 
God — the  mode  of  expression  in  which  she  pours 
out  her  thoughts  to  Him,  just  as  ordinary  language 
is  the  expression  of  our  ordinary  thoughts  and  gives 
clearness  and  distinctness  to  them.  Let  not  our 
words  be  many,  but  simple  and  few ;  not  using 
vain  repetitions  or  indulging  in  vague  emotions ;  not 
allowing  ourselves  in  fantastic  practices ;  but  self- 
collected,  firm,  clear;  not  deeming  that  mere 
self-abasement  can  give  any  pleasure  to  God  any 
more  than  to  an  earthly  monarch.  And  above  all 
let  us  be  truthful,  seeking  to  view  ourselves  and 
our  lives  as  in  His  presence,  neither  better  than  we 
are  nor  worse  than  we  are,  making  our  prayers  the 
first  motive  and  spring  of  all  our  actions  ;  and  some- 
times passing  before  God  in  our  mind's  eye  all 
those  with  whom  we  are  in  any  way  connected,  that 
we  may  be  better  able  to  do  our  duty  towards  them, 
and  more  ready  to  think  of  them  all  in  their  several 
ranks  and  stations  as  the  creatures  of  God  equally 
with  ourselves,  each  one  having  a  life  and  being  and 
I 


ii4  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

affections  as  valuable  to  himself  and  to  God  as  our 
own.  Neither  should  we  forget  sometimes  to  pray 
that  God  may  clear  away  from  our  souls  all  error 
and  prejudice — i  The  mind  through  all  its  powers 
Irradiate,  there  plant  eyes,  all  mists  from  thence 
Purge  and  disperse ' ;  and  that,  as  years  go  on  and 
our  faculties  in  the  course  of  nature  become  weaker 
and  narrower,  and  our  limbs  are  old  and  our  blood 
runs  cold,  instead  of  creeping  into  ourselves  we 
may  still  be  expanding  like  the  flower  before  the 
sun  in  the  Divine  presence,  and  cheered  by  the  warmth 
of  the  Divine  love. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doc  trine ,  278—9.) 

Immortality 

The  belief  in  a  future  life  is  not  derived  from 
revelation,  though  greatly  strengthened  by  it.  It  is 
the  growing  sense  of  human  nature  respecting  itself. 
Scarcely  any  one  passes  out  of  existence  fearing 
that  he  will  cease  to  be ;  perhaps  no  one  whose 
mind  may  be  regarded  as  in  a  natural  state.  Absurd 
superstitions,  even  the  painful  efforts  to  get  rid  of 
self,  in  some  of  the  Eastern  religions,  indirectly 
bear  witness  to  the  same  truth.  They  seem  to  say, 
'  Stamp  upon  the  Soul,  crush  it  as  you  will,  the 
poor  worm  will  still  creep  out  into  the  sunshine  of 
the  Almighty.'  Nor  is  the  consciousness  of  another 
life  a  mere  instinct  which,  however  distorted,  still 
remains :  to  those  who  reason  it  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  our  highest,  that  is,  with  our  moral 
notions.  We  feel  that  God  cannot  have  given  us 
capacities  and  affections,  that  they  should  find  no 
other  fulfilment  than  they  attain  here ;  that  He  can- 
not intend  the  unequal  measure  of  good  and  evil 


IMMORTALITY  115 

which  He  has  assigned  to  men  on  earth  to  be  the 
end  of  all :  nor  can  we  believe  that  the  crimes  or 
sins  which  go  unpunished  in  this  world  are  to  pass 
away  as  though  they  had  never  been  ;  that  the  cries 
of  saints  and  heroes,  and  the  work  of  the  Saviour 
Himself,  have  gone  up  unheard  before  His  throne. 
That  can  never  be.  Equally  impossible  is  it  to 
suppose  that  creatures  whom  He  has  endowed  with 
reason  are,  like  the  great  multitude  of  the  human 
race,  to  be  sunk  for  ever  in  hopeless  ignorance  and 
unconsciousness.  It  is  true  that  the  nature  of  the 
change  which  is  to  come  over  them  and  us  is  not 
disclosed :  '  The  times  and  the  seasons  the  Father 
has  put  in  His  own  power.'  Had  it  been  otherwise, 
immortality  must  have  overpowered  us ;  the  thought 
of  another  state  would  have  swallowed  up  this. 

And  this  sense  of  a  future  life  and  judgement  to 
come  has  been  so  quickened  in  us  by  Christianity, 
that  it  may  be  said  almost  to  have  been  created  by 
it.  It  is  the  witness  of  Christ  Himself,  than  which 
to  the  Christian  no  assurance  can  be  greater.  He 
who  meditates  on  this  Divine  life  in  the  brief  narra- 
tive which  has  been  preserved  of  it,  will  find  the 
belief  in  another  world  come  again  to  him  when 
many  physical  and  metaphysical  proofs  are  beginning 
to  be  as  broken  reeds.  He  will  find  more  than 
enough  to  balance  the  difficulties  of  the  manner 
'how'  or  the  time  'when';  he  will  find,  as  he 
draws  nearer  to  Christ,  a  sort  of  impossibility  of 
believing  otherwise.  When  we  ask,  '  How  are  the 
dead  raised  up,  and  with  what  body  do  they  come  ? ' 
St.  Paul  answers,  'Thou  fool,  that  which  thou 
sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die ; '  when  we 
raise  objections  to  the  narrative  which  has  been  pre- 

I    2 


Ii6  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINES 

served  of  our  Saviour's  discourse  respecting  the  last 
things  and  the  end  of  the  world,  may  not  the 
answer  to  this  as  well  as  to  many  other  difficulties 
be  gathered  from  His  own  words — '  It  is  the  Spirit 
that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing;  the 
words  that  I  speak  unto  you  they  are  Spirit,  and 
they  are  truth '  ? 

There  was  a  sense  in  which  our  Saviour  said 
that  it  was  better  for  His  disciples  that  He  should 
be  taken  from  them,  that  the  Comforter  should  come 
unto  them.  There  is  also  a  blessing  recorded  in 
the  Gospels  on  those  who  had  not  seen  and  yet  had 
believed.  Is  there  not  a  sense  in  which  it  is  more 
blessed  to  live  at  a  distance  from  those  events  which 
are  the  beginning  of  Christianity,  than  under  their 
immediate  influence,  to  see  them  as  they  truly  are  in 
the  light  of  this  world  as  well  as  of  another  ?  If  it 
was  an  illusion  in  the  first  Christians  to  believe  in 
the  immediate  coming  of  Christ,  is  it  not  a  cause  of 
thankfulness  that  now  we  see  clearly  ?  Of  truth,  as 
well  as  of  love,  it  may  be  said  there  is  no  fear  in 
truth,  but  perfect  truth  casteth  out  fear.  The  eye 
which  is  strong  enough  to  pierce  through  the  shadow 
of  death  is  not  troubled  because  the  golden  mist  is 
dispelled  and  it  looks  on  the  open  heaven. 

And  though  prophecy  may  fail  and  tongues  cease, 
though  to  those  who  look  back  upon  them  when 
they  are  with  the  past,  they  are  different  from  what 
they  were  to  those  who  melted  under  their  influence, 
the  pure  moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  Christianity, 
the  '  kingdom  of  God  within,'  remains  as  at  the 
first,  the  law  of  Christian  love  becoming  more  and 
more,  and  all  in  all. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  64-6.) 


VI 
RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES 

The  Simple  Truths  of  Religion 

*  THESE  simple  truths  of  religion  are  the  natural 
bulwarks  against  doubt,  and  they  are  the  natural 
boundaries  of  our  knowledge  of  things  beyond  us. 
We  cannot  pierce  the  veil  which  separates  us  from 
the  world  of  spirits,  but  the  belief  in  love,  in  truth, 
in  justice,  in  holiness,  may  sustain  us  in  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death.  These  are  the  powers 
which  encircle  us,  not  the  darkness  of  the  unknown, 
as  some  philosophers  tell  us.  Nor  can  any  one 
pretend  that  because  this  is  an  age  of  criticism  and 
unbelief  he  has  lost  the  rule  of  life — he  never  had 
one  who  imagines  this.  We  may  sum  up  all  in  the 
precept,  '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself; '  he  may 
pass  his  life  in  imitation  of  Him  who  '  went  about 
doing  good.'  There  is  nothing  simpler  in  this  world 
than  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  No  clear-headed  man 
can  for  a  moment  imagine  that  doubts  about  the  in- 
spiration of  Scripture,  or  the  authority  of  the  Church, 
or  the  sweet  influences  of  art,  or  the  opinion  of 
physical  necessity,  can  in  any  degree  relax  the  re- 
quirements of  morality  or  duty.  There  are  many 


Ii8          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

movements  going  on  in  the  world  in  v/hich  some 
of  us  take  an  extraordinary  interest.  But  we  also 
know  that  there  are  still  higher  truths  which  are 
eternal  and  do  not  partake  of  this  earthly  tide  and 
motion. 

*  The  consideration  of  these  simple   truths,  or 
Divine  ideas,   seems  to  afford  the  natural  balance 
to    the   things  of   sense.     Experience  has  a  very 
great   hold  upon  us ;    we  can  hardly  believe  what 
we  do  not  see.     Facts  are  fixed  points  to  which  we 
turn  the  more  readily  at  times  when  we  are  weary 
of  the  changes  of  opinion.     Yet  the  mere  observa- 
tion of  a  particular  class  of  facts  will  not  give  us 
understanding  of  another  class  or  enable  us  to  take 
a  comprehensive  view  of  the  world  or   of  human 
life.     The  ideas  of  which  I  am  speaking  are  not 
of  the  nature  of  facts,  but  neither  are  they  opinions. 
For  we  are   no  more  uncertain   that  we  ought  to 
make  them  the  rule  of  our  lives,  than  we  are  of  the 
law  by  which  the  stone  falls  to  the  ground  or  the 
light  body  rises  upwards.  (Unpublished.} 

The  Government  of  God   and  the  Laws 
of  Nature 

*  The  love  of  God  which  is  shed  abroad  in  our 
hearts  has  to  be  reconciled  with  the  fixed  law  which 
is  never   interrupted  for  our   sake.     The   personal 
government  of  God  must  be  harmonized  with  the 
ordinary  course    of  nature.     Is  the  act   of  prayer 
a  mere  impression  which  we  are  seeking  to  produce 
on   our   own   minds  ?    or   is    there  a  real   strength 
communicated    by  it   as  truly  as  if  a   voice   from 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          119 

heaven  replied  to  our  words  ?  And  may  not  these 
two  lines  of  thought,  the  thought  of  the  child  and 
the  thought  of  the  philosopher,  receive  a  practical 
reconciliation?  (Unpublished.) 

The  Opposition  of  Reason  and  Faith 

The  generation  to  which  we  belong  has  difficulties 
to  contend  with,  perhaps  greater  than  those  of  any 
former  age ;  and  certainly  different  from  them. 
Some  of  those  difficulties  arise  out  of  the  opposition 
of  reason  and  faith  ;  the  critical  inquiries  of  which 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  have  been  the  subject, 
are  a  trouble  to  many  ;  the  circumstance  that,  while 
the  Bible  is  the  word  of  life  for  all  men,  such 
inquiries  are  open  only  to  the  few,  increases  the 
irritation.  The  habit  of  mind  which  has  been 
formed  in  the  study  of  Greek  or  Roman  history 
may  be  warned  off  the  sacred  territory,  but  cannot 
really  be  prevented  from  trespassing ;  still  more 
impossible  is  it  to  keep  the  level  of  knowledge  at 
one  point  in  Germany,  at  another  in  England. 
Geology,  ethnology,  historical  and  metaphysical 
criticism,  assail  in  succession  not  the  Scriptures 
themselves,  but  notions  and  beliefs  which  in  the 
minds  of  many  good  men  are  bound  up  with  them. 
The  eternal  strain  to  keep  theology  where  it  is 
while  the  world  is  going  on,  specious  reconcilements, 
political  or  ecclesiastical  exigencies,  recent  attempts 
to  revive  the  past,  and  the  reaction  to  which  they 
have  given  birth,  the  contrast  that  everywhere  arises 
of  old  and  new,  all  add  to  the  confusion.  Probably 
no  other  age  has  been  to  the  same  extent  the  subject 
of  cross  and  contradictory  influences.  What  can 


120          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

be  more  unlike  than  the  tone  of  sermons  and  of 
newspapers?  or  the  ideas  of  men  on  art,  politics, 
and  religion,  now,  and  half  a  generation  ago  ?  The 
thoughts  of  a  few  original  minds,  like  wedges,  pierce 
into  all  received  and  conventional  opinions  and  are 
almost  equally  removed  from  either.  The  destruction 
of  i  shams/  that  is,  the  realization  of  things  as  they 
are  amid  all  the  conventions  of  thought  and  speech 
and  action,  is  also  an  element  of  unsettlement.  The 
excess  of  self-reflection,  again,  is  not  favourable  to 
strength  or  simplicity  of  character.  Every  one 
seems  to  be  employed  in  decomposing  the  world, 
human  nature,  and  himself.  The  discoveiy  is  made 
that  good  and  evil  are  mixed  in  a  far  more  subtle 
way  than  at  first  sight  would  have  appeared  possible  ; 
and  that  even  extremes  of  both  meet  in  the  same 
person.  The  mere  analysis  of  moral  and  religious 
truth,  the  fact  that  we  know  the  origin  of  many 
things  which  the  last  generation  received  on  authority, 
is  held  by  some  to  destroy  their  sacredness.  Lastly, 
there  are  those  who  feel  that  all  the  doubts  of 
sceptics  put  together  fall  short  of  that  great  doubt 
which  has  insinuated  itself  into  their  minds,  from 
the  contemplation  of  mankind — saying  one  thing 
and  doing  another. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  ii.  298-300.) 

The  Evils  of  Society 

Suppose  a  person  acquainted  with  the  real  state 
of  the  world  in  which  we  live  and  move,  and  neither 
morosely  depreciating  nor  unduly  exalting  human 
nature,  to  turn  to  the  image  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  the  New  Testament,  how  great  would  the  differ- 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          121 

ence  appear !  How  would  the  blessing  of  poverty 
contrast  with  the  real,  even  the  moral  advantages  of 
wealth !  the  family  of  love,  with  distinctions  of  ranks ! 
the  spiritual,  almost  supernatural,  society  of  the  first 
Christians,  with  our  world  of  fashion,  of  business, 
of  pleasure!  the  community  of  goods,  with  our 
meagre  charity  to  others  !  the  prohibition  of  going 
to  law  before  the  heathen,  with  our  endless  litigation 
before  judges  of  all  religions !  the  cross  of  Christ, 
with  our  ordinary  life  !  How  little  does  the  world 
in  which  we  live  seem  to  be  designed  for  the  taber- 
nacle of  immortal  souls  !  How  large  a  portion  of 
mankind,  even  in  a  civilized  country,  appears  to  be 
sacrificed  to  the  rest,  and  to  be  without  the  means 
of  moral  and  religious  improvement !  How  fixed, 
and  steadfast,  and  regular  do  dealings  of  money  and 
business  appear !  how  transient  and  passing  are 
religious  objects !  Then,  again,  consider  how 
society,  sometimes  in  self-defence,  sets  a  false  stamp 
on  good  and  evil ;  as  in  the  excessive  punishment 
of  the  errors  of  women,  compared  with  Christ's 
conduct  to  the  woman  who  was  a  sinner.  Or  when 
men  are  acknowledged  to  be  in  the  sight  of  God 
equal,  how  strange  it  seems  that  one  should  heap  up 
money  for  another,  and  be  dependent  on  him  for  his 
daily  life.  Susceptible  minds,  attaching  themselves 
some  to  one  point  some  to  another,  may  carry  such 
reflections  very  far,  until  society  itself  appears  evil, 
and  they  desire  some  primitive  patriarchal  mode  of 
life.  They  are  tired  of  conventionalities;  they 
want,  as  they  say,  to  make  the  Gospel  a  reality; 
to  place  all  men  on  a  religious,  social,  and  political 
equality.  In  this,  as  in  the  last  case,  'they  are 
kicking  against  the  pricks ; '  what  they  want  is 


122  RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

a  society  which  has  not  the  very  elements  of  a  social 
state;  they  do  not  perceive  that  the  cause  of  the 
evil  is  human  nature  itself,  which  will  not  cohere 
without  mixed  motives  and  received  forms  and  dis- 
tinctions, and  that  Providence  has  been  pleased  to 
rest  the  world  on  a  firmer  basis  than  is  supplied  by 
the  fleeting  emotions  of  philanthropy,  viz.  self- 
interest.  We  are  not,  indeed,  to  sit  with  our  arms 
folded,  and  acquiesce  in  human  evil.  But  we  must 
separate  the  accidents  from  the  essence  of  this  evil : 
questions  of  taste,  things  indifferent,  or  customary, 
or  necessary,  from  the  weightier  matters  of  oppres- 
sion, falsehood,  vice.  The  ills  of  society  are  to  be 
struggled  against  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  violate 
the  conditions  of  society ;  the  precepts  of  Scripture 
are  to  be  applied,  but  not  without  distinctions  of 
times  and  countries ;  Christian  duties  are  to  be 
enforced,  but  not  identified  with  political  principles. 
To  see  the  world — not  as  it  ought  to  be,  but  as  it 
is — to  be  on  a  level  with  the  circumstances  in  which 
God  has  placed  them,  to  renounce  the  remote  and 
impossible  for  what  is  possible  and  in  their  reach ; 
above  all,  to  begin  within — these  are  the  limits 
which  enthusiasts  should  set  to  their  aspirations 
after  social  good.  It  is  a  weary  thing  to  be  all  our 
life  long  warring  against  the  elements,  or,  like  the 
slaves  of  some  eastern  lord,  using  our  hands  in 
a  work  which  can  only  be  accomplished  by  levers 
and  machines.  The  physician  of  society  should  aid 
nature  instead  of  fighting  against  it;  he  must  let 
the  world  alone  as  much  as  he  can ;  to  a  certain 
degree,  he  will  even  accept  things  as  they  are  in  the 
hope  of  bettering  them. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Pan!,  ii.  294-6.) 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          123 

The  Church  and  the  World 

The  God  of  peace  rest  upon  you,  is  the  con- 
cluding benediction  of  most  of  the  Epistles.  How 
can  He  rest  upon  us,  who  draw  so  many  hard  lines  of 
demarcation  between  ourselves  and  other  men  ;  who 
oppose  the  Church  and  the  world,  Sundays  and 
working  days,  revelation  and  science,  the  past  and 
present,  the  life  and  state  of  which  religion  speaks 
and  the  life  which  we  ordinarily  lead  ?  It  is  well 
that  we  should  consider  these  lines  of  demarcation 
rather  as  representing  aspects  of  our  life  than  as 
corresponding  to  classes  of  mankind.  It  is  well 
that  we  should  acknowledge  that  one  aspect  of  life 
or  knowledge  is  as  true  as  the  other.  Science  and 
revelation  touch  one  another :  the  past  floats  down 
in  the  present.  We  are  all  members  of  the  same 
Christian  world ;  we  are  all  members  of  the  same 
Christian  Church.  Who  can  bear  to  doubt  this  of 
themselves  or  of  their  family  ?  What  parent  would 
think  otherwise  of  his  child? — what  child  of  his 
parent  ?  Religion  holds  before  us  an  ideal  which 
we  are  far  from  reaching;  natural  affection  softens 
and  relieves  the  characters  of  those  we  love;  ex- 
perience alone  shows  men  what  they  truly  are.  All 
these  three  must  so  meet  as  to  do  violence  to  none. 
If,  in  the  age  of  the  Apostles,  it  seemed  to  be  the 
duty  of  the  believers  to  separate  themselves  from 
the  world  and  take  up  a  hostile  position,  not  less 
marked  in  the  present  age  is  the  duty  of  abolishing 
in  a  Christian  country  what  has  now  become  an 
artificial  distinction,  and  seeking  by  every  means  in 
our  power,  by  fairness,  by  truthfulness,  by  know- 
ledge, by  love  unfeigned,  by  the  absence  of  party 


124          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

and  prejudice,  by  acknowledging  the  good  in  all 
things,  to  reconcile  the  Church  to  the  world,  the 
one  half  of  our  nature  to  the  other;  drawing  the 
mind  off  from  speculative  difficulties,  or  matters  of 
party  and  opinion,  to  that  which  almost  all  equally 
acknowledge  and  almost  equally  rest  short  of — the 
life  of  Christ. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  246.) 

The  Divine  Nature 

The  figures  of  the  Prophets  and  of  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  which  describe  the  unseen  world  as  a 
place  above  or  below  us  which  God  and  His  angels 
make  their  habitation,  or  the  powers  of  evil  their 
stronghold,  seem  to  fade  away  before  the  facts  of 
natural  science.  Then,  again,  the  littleness  of  this 
earth,  which  we  once  supposed  to  be  the  centre  of 
all  things,  hardly  more  in  the  ocean  of  space  than 
a  point  or  a  drop  of  water,  is  a  very  overwhelming 
thought.  Whatever  people  may  say  to  those  who 
reflect  on  these  things,  there  is  greater  difficulty  in 
realizing  the  unseen  than  formerly.  However  we 
describe  or  conceive  God,  whether  as  the  mind  of 
the  world,  or  as  the  law  of  the  world,  or  as  the 
Father  of  the  world,  we  are  led  more  and  more  to 
feel  that  His  nature  is  inscrutable  to  us,  and  can  be 
no  more  expressed  in  words  or  figures  of  speech 
than  in  the  graven  images  of  the  olden  time.  Again, 
as  the  notion  of  a  perfect  God  becomes  more  present 
to  us,  so  also  the  contradictions  which  the  appear- 
ances of  the  world  offer  to  this  perfection  strike 
forcibly  upon  the  mind.  Mankind  place  things  side 
by  side  now  which  formerly  were  not  seen  to  be 
inconsistent ;  objections  which  used  to  sleep  quietly 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          125 

enough  now  demand  a  well-considered  answer.  One 
perhaps  asks  to  have  the  law  of  cause  and  effect 
reconciled  with  the  responsibility  of  man ;  another 
repeats  the  favourite  theological  paradox,  '  Why,  if 
God  is  all-powerful  and  all-wise,  does  He  permit 
the  existence  of  evil  ? '  I  can  very  well  imagine 
that  the  theory  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  much  during  the  last  fifteen 
years,  may  produce  a  very  painful  impression  on  the 
minds  of  unthinking  persons,  because  appearing  to 
them  so  contradictory  to  the  love  of  God  towards 
all  His  creatures,  '  There  is  not  a  sparrow  that  falls 
to  the  ground  without  your  Father.'  The  facts  or 
speculations  respecting  the  origin  of  society,  or  even 
of  the  family,  so  unlike  that  Garden  of  Eden  of 
which  our  fathers  dreamed,  are  very  likely  to  have 
a  similar  effect.  These  inquiries  I  mention,  not  to 
refute  them  (they  are  not  to  be  refuted  by  the  way 
or  in  a  moment),  but  simply  with  one  object — to 
show  that  religious  belief  is  not  so  easy  a  matter 
as  it  once  was,  and  that  this  generation  is  not  to 
be  accused  of  greater  irreligion  than  their  predeces- 
sors because  they  are  unable  at  once  to  adjust  all 
these  marvellous  discoveries  and  novel  inquiries  in 
their  true  relation  to  their  own  traditional  belief,  or 
even  to  see  how  they  can  be  reconciled  with  very 
simple  truths  of  religion  and  morality.  That  is  the 
task  which  God  has  assigned  to  us,  and  not  to  us 
only,  but  to  every  succeeding  generation  of  Christians, 
to  entwine  the  old  with  the  new,  to  heal  that  great 
breach  which  seems  to  have  arisen  between  religion 
and  knowledge,  and  to  some  extent  between  religion 
and  morality. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  1 02—4.) 


126          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

Religion  and  Politics 

The  attempt  to  form  moral  judgements  on  politics 
is  a  temptation  which  naturally  besets  us,  for  if  we 
can  raise  political  questions  into  moral  ones  we 
effectually  place  ourselves  in  the  right  and  our  oppo- 
nents in  the  wrong.  We  elevate  ourselves  on  a  sort 
of  moral  platform ;  we  appeal  to  the  heart  against 
the  head,  to  the  feelings  against  the  reason.  We 
trust  to  the  force  of  general  principles  weighed  in 
the  balance  with  doubtful  or  disputed  facts.  These 
are  arts  which  most  men  unconsciously  practise  in 
times  of  political  excitement,  and  a  generous  person 
who  has  any  insight  into  human  nature  is  apt  to 
revolt  from  them,  because  he  knows  that  religion 
and  morality  are  the  disguises  of  party  spirit.  I  will 
add  one  more  illustration  of  the  wrong  way  in  which 
religion  may  be  introduced  into  politics.  I  am  old 
enough  to  remember  the  time  when  a  respectable 
section  of  the  community  believed  that  the  judge- 
ments of  God  were  about  to  fall  upon  this  country. 
And  for  what  ?  For  our  neglect  of  education  ?  for 
the  sufferings  of  the  poor  ?  for  our  toleration  of 
slavery  (now  happily  abolished)  ?  for  the  severity  of 
our  criminal  code  ?  For  none  of  these  things,  but 
because  we  had  admitted  our  Roman  Catholic 
brethren  to  Parliament,  or,  about  twelve  years  later, 
because  we  had  given  a  grant  for  the  education  of 
poor  Roman  Catholic  priests  !  It  was  argued  that 
if  a  nation,  like  an  individual,  had  a  conscience,  it 
must,  like  an  individual,  have  one  conscience;  and 
upon  this  fallacy  of  composition  or  division,  as 
logicians  would  term  it,  and  under  the  still  greater 
fallacy  that  in  gratifying  their  own  party  feelings 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          127 

they  were  doing  God  service,  the  peace  of  nations 
was  imperilled,  the  risk  of  civil  wars  was  incurred. 
For,  if  such  a  doctrine  could  be  maintained,  there 
would  seem  to  be  no  stopping  until  the  members  of 
all  religions  but  the  dominant  and  established  one 
were  excluded  from  civil  and  political  rights.  We 
must  wade  through  oceans  of  blood  to  an  unmeaning 
uniformity  in  religion;  and,  although  this  religious 
tyranny  is  overpast,  it  cannot  be  said  even  now  that 
the  sympathies  and  antipathies  of  churches  and  re- 
ligious bodies  have  no  influence  on  the  enmities  and 
wars  of  nations.  The  immediate  interests  of  their 
own  order  may  often  be  strong  in  them,  while  they 
have  little  or  no  feeling  for  all  that  is  without. 

But  is  there,  then,  no  rule  of  right  and  wrong  by 
which  the  statesman  must  guide  his  steps,  no  true 
way  in  which  morality  and  religion  enter  into 
politics  ?  First  of  all,  he  has  the  rule  not  to  do 
anything  as  a  statesman  which  as  a  private  individual 
he  would  not  allow  himself  to  do.  A  great  and 
good  man  will  not  flatter,  will  not  deceive,  will  not 
confuse  his  own  interests  or  those  of  his  party  with 
the  interests  of  his  country,  will  fear  no  one,  will,  if 
he  can  help  it,  offend  no  one.  He  will  feel,  though 
he  will  not  say,  that  he  has  a  trust  committed  to 
him  by  God,  and  the  greatest  of  all  trusts,  for  which 
he  must  give  an  account.  And  sometimes  he  will 
need  to  steady  himself  in  the  thought  of  immortality 
and  eternity  against  the  forces  which  oppose  him, 
whether  the  frowns  of  a  sovereign  or  the  dislike  of 
a  class  or  the  clamour  of  the  populace.  He  will 
sometimes  think  of  another  kingdom  which  is  not 
to  be  found  upon  earth.  But  he  will  not  be  fond  of 
arguing  merely  political  questions  on  moral  grounds, 


128          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

because  he  knows  that  in  this  way  he  is  likely  to 
miss  their  real  drift.  He  will  not  expect  to  learn 
from  Scripture  whether  the  authority  of  princes 
shall  be  maintained,  whether  some  tax  or  tithe  shall 
be  imposed  or  repealed,  whether  certain  regulations 
respecting  degrees  of  affinity  in  marriage  shall  be 
enforced  or  not,  whether  usury  laws  are  good  or 
bad.  The  example  of  Christ  will  not  enable  him 
to  determine  what  measures  of  relief  should  be  taken 
in  an  Irish  or  Scotch  famine,  or  even  in  the  ordinary 
management  of  the  poor.  These  are  questions  of 
expediency,  in  which  the  best  thing  to  be  done  is 
also  the  right  thing,  and  the  best  can  only  be  dis- 
covered by  a  close  and  conscientious  study  of  the 
facts.  There  is  no  revelation  of  this  from  heaven  ; 
but  the  spirit  of  Christ  may  still  be  the  underlying 
motive  of  the  statesman's  life.  And  sometimes, 
amid  the  piles  of  statistics,  in  the  hurry  and  distrac- 
tion of  his  work,  that  motive  may  be  very  near  and 
present  to  him.  But  he  must  think  as  well  as  feel ; 
he  must  balance  the  greater  evil  which  is  seen 
against  the  lesser  which  is  unseen ;  he  must  know 
how  much  of  an  evil  must  be  endured.  He  has 
to  work  through  means ;  he  cannot  drop  out  the 
intermediate  steps,  or  in  a  mistaken  spirit  of  faith 
undertake  some  great  enterprise. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  239—42.) 

Interpretation  of  Scripture 

To  understand  thoroughly  any  of  the  more  diffi- 
cult parts  of  Scripture  requires  far  more  knowledge 
and  ability  than  to  unlock  the  treasures  of  ancient 
philosophy  or  solve  the  problems  of  nature.  It  is 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          129 

not  the  study  of  a  day  or  of  a  year,  but  is  and  ought 
to  be  to  every  one,  especially  to  the  clergyman,  the 
study  of  our  whole  life.  But  how  can  those  of  us 
who  have  never  learnt  to  study  at  all,  learn  to  study 
Scripture,  who  have  never  gained  even  the  ordinary 
power  of  fixing  the  attention,  who  have  never  known 
what  it  was  to  labour  day  after  day  at  the  same 
subject.  To  such  the  study  of  Scripture  becomes 
helpless  and  hopeless  ;  if  they  are  religious  men  they 
read  it  again  and  again,  but  only  find  there  what  they 
believed  before.  Here  is  the  word  of  life — we  call 
it  so  and  think  it  so — and  yet  how  strange  that  we 
never  cared  to  acquire  the  power  of  understanding 
it,  of  so  methodizing  and  arranging  our  thoughts  that 
we  may  have  the  power  of  explaining  it  to  others. 
(College  Sermons^  7"~8») 

Faith  and  Experience 

It  sometimes  seems  as  if  there  were  a  great 
difference  between  the  lesson  which  faith  teaches  and 
which  experience  teaches  about  the  world  and  about 
ourselves.  Faith  tells  of  another  life,  experience  of 
this.;  the  one  assures  us  of  the  infinite  power  and 
goodness  of  God,  the  other  recalls  us  to  the  know- 
ledge of  human  nature  and  the  sense  of  our  own 
weakness.  Faith  speaks  to  us  of  divine  grace,  of 
spiritual  gifts,  of  the  heart  turned  in  a  moment  from 
darkness  to  light.  Experience  reminds  us  of  the 
force  of  circumstances,  of  the  slow  growth  of  habit, 
of  the  ever-returning  power  of  passions,  prejudices, 
and  opinions.  The  one  comforts  us  with  the  thought 
that  at  any  moment  God  can  forgive  ;  the  other 
warns  us  again  that  after  a  certain  age  it  is  almost 

K 


130          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

impossible  for  us  to  change.  Faith  and  hope  joining 
hands  lead  us  to  believe  that  ere  we  die  we  shall  be 
fit  to  die,  and  in  some  way  or  other  renewed  in  the 
image  of  Christ.  Experience  assures  us  that,  in 
nine  cases  out  of  ten,  we  shall  be  as  we  are  though 
years  increase  upon  us,  and  death  draws  to  our  gates, 
and  that  until  our  eyes  close  to  it  this  world  will 
not  vanish  from  our  sight.  Lastly,  faith  tells  us 
that  in  a  thousand  ways  God's  watchful  care  is 
about  our  bed  and  about  our  path,  that  our  life 
itself  is  a  miracle  of  so  many  years'  standing,  that 
He  hears  our  prayers  and  provides  for  our  wants. 
Experience  presents  us  with  the  other  side  of  the 
truth,  which  whether  we  will  or  no  takes  us  by 
force,  and  compels  us  to  admit  that  never  in  any 
case  have  the  laws  of  nature  been  interfered  with 
for  our  sake,  or  the  slightest  appearance  been  dis- 
cernible of  any  variation  in  the  order  of  the  world. 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  contrasts  between  faith  and 
sight,  involving  obviously  a  different  set  of  principles, 
and  leading  to  different  ways  of  acting  ;  affecting 
our  practice  at  least  as  much  as  speculation. 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons ,  227—8.) 

Faith  without  Knowledge,  and  Knowledge 
without  Faith 

Faith  without  knowledge  is  a  wilful  and  un- 
meaning thing,  which  can  never  guide  men  into  light 
and  truth.  It  will  pervert  their  notions  of  God  ;  it 
will  transfer  them  from  one  religion  to  another ; 
it  may  and  often  has  undermined  their  sense  of  right 
and  wrong.  It  has  no  experience  of  life  or  of 
history,  no  power  of  understanding  or  foreseeing  the 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          131 

nature  of  the  struggle  which  is  going  on  in  the  human 
heart  or  the  movements  which  affect  churches,  and 
which,  as  ecclesiastical  history  shows,  always  have 
been  and  will  be  again.  It  is  apt  to  rest  on  some 
misapplied  quotation  from  Scripture,  and  to  claim  for 
its  own  creed,  theories,  and  fancies,  the  authority  of 
inspiration.  It  is  ready  to  assent  to  anything,  or  at 
least  to  anything  which  is  in  accordance  with  its 
own  religious  feeling,  and  it  has  no  sense  of  false- 
hood and  truth.  It  is  fatal  to  the  bringing  up  of 
children,  because  it  never  takes  the  right  means  to 
its  ends,  and  has  never  learned  to  discern  differences 
of  character.  It  never  perceives  where  it  is  in  this 
world.  It  is  narrowed  to  its  own  faith  and  the 
articles  of  its  creed,  and  has  no  power  of  embracing 
all  men  in  the  arms  of  love,  or  in  the  purposes  of 
God.  It  is  an  element  of  division  among  mankind, 
and  not  of  union.  It  might  be  compared  to  a  fire, 
which  gives  warmth  but  not  life  or  growth — which, 
instead  of  training  or  cherishing  the  tender  plants, 
dries  them  up,  and  takes  away  their  spring  of  youth. 
But  then,  again,  knowledge  without  faith  is  feeble 
and  powerless,  unsuited  to  our  condition  in  this 
world,  supplying  no  sufficient  motive  of  human 
action.  It  is  apt  to  sink  into  isolation  and  selfish- 
ness, and  seems  rather  to  detach  us  from  God  and 
our  fellow  men  than  to  unite  us  to  them.  It  is 
likely  to  pass  into  a  cold  and  sceptical  temper  of 
mind,  which  sees  only  the  difficulties  that  surround 
us,  and  thinks  that  one  thing  is  as  good  as  another, 
and  that  nothing  in  this  world  signifies.  This  is 
a  temper  of  mind  which  is  the  ruin  of  the  head  as 
well  as  of  the  heart ;  for  no  man  can  pursue  know- 
ledge with  success  who  has  not  some  sense  of  the 
K  2 


132          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

higher  purposes  of  knowledge,  some  faith  in  the 
future,  some  hope  that  the  far-off  result  of  his  labours 
will  be  the  good  of  man,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the 
will  of  God  in  the  world. 

(Biographical  Sermons,  57—8.) 

The  Psalms  in  Public  Worship 

No  doubt  our  Services  would  have  a  more  Chris- 
tian spirit  if  some  passages  of  Scripture  had  been 
omitted.  Some  of  them  may  be  regarded  as  merely 
historical  narratives ;  but  this  explanation  will  not 
apply  to  others.  We  are  not  bound  to  give  our 
assent  either  to  the  conception  of  God,  or  the  acts 
or  words  of  inspired  men,  if  our  conscience  revolts 
at  them,  merely  because  they  are  found  in  Scripture 
or  read  in  churches.  Nothing  has  ever  surpassed 
the  Psalms  in  depth  and  purity  of  devotion.  '  The 
Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salvation ;  whom  then 
shall  I  fear  ?  The  Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life, 
of  whom  then  shall  I  be  afraid  ? '  Or  '  The  Lord 
is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want;  yea,  though  I 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death, 
I  will  fear  no  evil ; '  or  again,  '  Lord,  Thou  hast 
been  our  refuge  from  generation  to  generation. 
Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  the 
earth  and  the  world  were  made,  Thou  art  God  from 
everlasting  and  world  without  end.'  But  because 
I  find  in  these  and  the  like  simple  words  the  highest 
expression  of  Christian  faith,  I  am  not  therefore 
justified  in  consenting  to  the  words  of  the  Psalmist, 
'  Blessed  shall  he  be  that  rewardeth  thee  as  thou  hast 
served  us,'  having  learned  another  lesson,  '  Love 
your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          133 

them  that  hate  you ; '  or  in  approving  the  words 
of  the  prophetess,  'Curse  ye  Meroz,  saith  the 
angel  of  the  Lord,  curse  ye  bitterly  the  inhabitants 
thereof; '  still  less  in  transferring  these  words  to 
the  enemies  of  the  Lord  in  other  ages,  or  to  the 
religious  party  which  is  opposed  to  me.  Nor  when 
I  hear  the  narrative  of  Rizpah  the  daughter  of  Aiah, 
who  after  the  execution  of  Saul's  sons  took  sackcloth 
and  suffered  neither  the  birds  of  the  air  to  rest  on 
them  by  day,  or  the  beasts  of  the  field  by  night, 
am  I  bound  to  side  with  the  superstition  of  a  half- 
civilized  age  against  the  natural  affection  of  a  Mother 
in  Israel.  (College  Sermons ,  289-91.) 

Belief  of  the  Heart 

There  is  the  belief  of  the  head  and  the  belief  of 
the  heart.  And  these  two  blend  together  in  one. 
As  the  heart  believes,  the  objects  of  belief  gradually 
clear  and  become  definite  to  us.  We  no  longer 
use  words  merely :  we  feel  within  us  that  they  have 
a  meaning :  but  our  inward  experience  becomes  the 
rock  on  which  we  stand :  it  is  like  the  consciousness 
of  our  own  existence.  Can  I  doubt  that  He  who 
has  taught  me  to  serve  Him  from  my  youth  upward 
— He  who  supported  me  in  that  illness,  who  brought 
me  near  to  the  gates  of  death  and  left  me  not  alone, 
is  none  other  than  God  Himself?  Can  I  doubt 
that  He  who  gave  me  the  impulse  to  devote  myself 
to  His  work  and  to  the  good  of  mankind,  who  in 
some  way  inexplicable  to  me  enables  me  to  calm  the 
violence  of  passion,  the  thought  of  envy,  malice, 
impurity,  to  whom  I  go  to  lay  open  my  breast  and 
cleanse  the  thoughts  of  my  heart,  can  be  none  other 


134          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

than  the  true  God?  Can  it  be  that  that  example 
which  He  has  given  me  in  the  life  of  His  Son  is 
other  than  the  truth  for  me  and  all  mankind  ?  Here 
\ve  seem  to  have  found  the  right  starting-point. 
'  Lord,  I  believe ;  help  Thou  mine  unbelief.' 

(College  Sermons,  21-2.) 

The  Evil  of  Sectarianism 

Does  anybody  think  it  a  good  thing  that  this 
country  should  be  divided  into  two  nearly  equal 
parts,  feeling  more  acutely  their  antagonism  to  one 
another  than  their  common  relation  to  Christ  ?  When 
men  have  persuaded  themselves  (perhaps  on  the 
ground  that  they  alone  have  the  true  form  of  Church 
Government,  whether  Episcopal,  or  Presbyterian, 
or  Independent)  that  their  Church  is  exclusively  the 
Church  of  God,  then,  instead  of  learning,  like  their 
Father  who  is  in  heaven,  to  embrace  all  other  men 
in  the  arms  of  their  love,  their  affections  become 
narrowed  and  fixed  on  persons  of  their  own  sect ; 
those  who  agree  with  them  they  call  good,  those 
who  disagree  with  them  evil ;  they  concentrate  their 
minds  on  some  notion,  some  power,  some  practice, 
which  they  desire  to  maintain  or  exercise ;  they 
will  even  make  God  the  author  of  their  fancies  and 
assume  a  Divine  authority  for  some  minute  point  of 
doctrine,  some  trifle  of  ritual,  some  external  form, 
some  ancient  metaphysical  subtlety,  forgetting  that 
the  sum  of  real  religion  must  ever  be  i  to  do  justice, 
to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  God.' 
This  is  a  page,  or  rather  many  pages,  in  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  suggests  one  reason 
why  Christianity  has  failed  so  much  in  carrying  out 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          135 

its  objects,  because  the  spirit  of  party  has  taken  the 
place  of  the  spirit  of  Christ — the  spirit  of  violence 
and  persecution  in  former  ages  which  has  dwindled 
into  the  spirit  of  enmity  and  dislike  and  detraction 
in  our  own.  (College  Sermons^  108—9.) 

The  weakness  of  Religious  Feelings 

There  is  no  road  to  moral  or  intellectual  improve- 
ment like  the  knowledge  of  our  own  defects.  Such 
facts  are  the  easiest  to  forget  and  the  hardest  to  bear 
in  mind.  Vanity  casts  its  transparent  veil  over  them, 
and  the  praise  of  other  men  makes  them  glitter  for 
a  moment  in  the  sunshine  ;  and  high  position  or 
office  covers  them  with  the  conventionalities  of  life  ; 
and  sometimes  even  religion  blinds  or  seems  to  blind 
us,  by  showing  us  the  end  without  the  means,  and 
exhorting  us  to  enter  into  communion  with  God,  as 
if  we  could  thus  lay  aside  what  the  Apostle  terms 
the  body  of  death,  that  is,  old  habits,  tastes,  passions, 
or  the  peculiar  temptations  of  our  natural  constitution 
itself.  Then  comes  the  painful  lesson  of  experience, 
that  to  a  limited  extent  only  we  are  capable  of 
receiving  impressions  of  religion,  and  that  oftentimes 
the  most  intense  spiritual  states  are  followed  by 
disgust  and  after-reaction.  We  begin  to  reflect  why 
it  is  that  Christian  life  is  so  little  like  a  progress 
towards  perfection;  why,  as  they  get  older,  men 
seem  to  grow  in  knowledge  or  experience  of  life, 
but  (if  such  an  expression  may  be  allowed)  to  have 
taken  in  all  the  religion  of  which  they  are  capable. 
Why,  we  ask,  do  the  same  failings  so  often  remain, 
even  after  men  are  regenerate  and  under  the  influence 
of  religion — irritability,  gloom,  want  of  straight- 


136          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

forwardness,  jealousy,  the  spirit  of  detraction,  the 
desire  of  advancement  and  the  like ;  so  that  some 
religious  men  seem  to  be  of  little  more  use  in  their 
day  and  generation  than  those  who  have  no  religion  ? 
They  have  sought  for  religion  in  the  abstract,  and 
they  have  got  a  religion  unequal  to  any  of  the  duties 
of  life.  They  did  not  recognize  how  they  are  the 
creatures  of  habit  and  of  circumstances,  and  how 
dependent  on  natural  constitution  and  bodily  state  ; 
and  they  have  done,  as  it  were,  violence  to  nature, 
in  taking  spiritual  means  only,  to  compass  natural 
ends.  As  if  in  medicine,  we  attempted  to  strengthen 
the  muscles  by  exciting  the  nerves,  or  hoped  to 
cure  a  deeply  seated  organic  disease  by  merely  com- 
posing the  mind. 

[Miscellaneous  Sermons*  244—6.) 

God,  not  Party 

When  a  man's  mind  is  full  of  the  simple  truths  of 
Christianity  and  of  the  simple  duties  of  the  Christian 
life,  he  will  not  be  much  affected  by  the  strife  of 
parties  or  the  controversies  of  the  hour.  He  knows 
that  such  controversies  have  always  gone  on  from 
the  days  of  St.  Paul  until  now,  and  that  they  will  be 
still  going  on  in  the  next  generation,  when  we  are 
removed  from  the  scene.  He  is  amazed  at  their 
pertinacity  and  sometimes  at  their  unmeaningness, 
but  they  do  not  take  any  hold  on  his  mind  or  fill 
him  with  alarms  about  the  future  of  religion.  For 
he  is  seeking  to  lay  a  foundation  of  another  sort ;  to 
bring  men  together,  not  to  divide  them  ;  to  show 
them  their  misunderstandings,  to  be  able  to  say  to 
them  amid  all  their  dissensions  :  '  Ye  are  all  one  in 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          137 

Christ  Jesus.'  And  his  anxieties  are  not  about  the 
definition  of  some  doctrine,  but  about  his  own  life  : 
;Is  he  becoming  better?  Is  he  doing  enough  for 
his  fellow  creatures  ?  Is  he  making  this  life  a  pre- 
paration for  another  ? '  When  he  hears  of  great 
religious  movements  he  will  be  prone  to  ask:  'What 
practical  good  will  result  from  them  ? '  and  will  be 
eager  to  turn  them  to  the  improvement  of  mankind 
before  the  blighting  influence  of  party  has  taken 
possession  of  them.  Perhaps  he  may  sometimes 
have  to  stand  out  of  the  way,  '  under  the  shelter  of 
a  wall,'  until  the  storm  has  passed  over.  But  as  he 
finds  that  his  inward  peace  is  unshaken,  so  too 
he  will  find  that  the  world  is  not  so  intolerant  as  it 
is  said  to  be,  and  that  with  a  little  prudence  he  may 
possess  his  soul  in  peace. 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons,  268—9.) 

Religion  and  Science  not  opposed 

There  is  nothing  really  opposed  in  religion  and 
science,  though  there  are  many  false  oppositions  as 
well  as  false  reconcilements  of  them.  But  we  must 
be  content  to  see  in  times  of  transition  their  paths 
diverge,  when  the  one  goes  forward  and  the  other 
remains  behind,  or  when  the  vigour  of  youth  in  the 
one  comes  into  conflict  with  the  traditions  of  antiquity 
in  the  other.  Meanwhile,  let  us  not  be  too  much 
the  servants  of  the  hour,  falling  under  the  dominion 
of  this  or  that  theory  which  happens  to  be  in  the  air, 
but  balancing  the  present  with  the  future  and  with 
the  past,  and  not  forgetting  the  great  thoughts  of 
other  ages  in  the  progress  of  natural  knowledge  or 
of  material  well-being.  Still,  we  know  that  the 


138          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

advancing  tide  of  natural  science  cannot  be  driven 
back  ;  nor  is  there  the  least  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  sentiment  of  religion  will  ever  be  banished  from 
the  human  heart;  and  this  consideration  may  lead 
us  to  expect  a  time  when  they  may  be  reconciled, 
if  not  perfectly,  yet  more  than  at  present ;  when 
religion  may  be  enlightened,  extended,  purified,  and 
philosophy  or  science  inspired  and  elevated,  and  both 
allied  together  in  the  service  of  God  and  man. 

And  even  now  we  can  imagine  individuals  in  whom 
no  such  opposition  is  found  to  exist,  whose  minds 
shrink  from  no  investigation,  and  are  not  startled  by 
any  real  conclusions  from  facts  ;  who  have  a  sense 
of  the  perfect  innocence  of  critical  inquiries  into 
Scripture  and  speculations  about  the  origin  of  man, 
and  yet  live  in  faith  and  in  communion  with  God, 
and  are  impartial,  not  because  they  have  no  religion, 
but  because  they  leave  the  result  with  Him.  They 
are  sensible  that  God  has  assigned  them  a  work 
which  is  as  much  His  work  as  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  by  ministers  of  religion.  Regarding  all 
truth  as  a  revelation  of  God,  they  have  no  egotism 
which  leads  them  to  maintain  their  own  ideas  or  dis- 
coveries in  preference  to  those  of  others.  They 
receive  the  wonders  of  nature  like  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  the  Gospel,  knowing  that  in  a  few  years 
their  powers  will  begin  to  fail,  and  this  will  be  the 
only  way  in  which  they  can  receive  them.  Already 
they  seem  to  themselves  like  children  playing  upon 
the  sands  of  the  ocean.  And  in  the  hour  of  death, 
when  their  eyes  close  upon  external  nature,  they 
know  that  He  is  mindful  of  them,  and  that  to  Him 
they  will  return. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  2O-2.) 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES  139 

Criticism  and  Reality 

In  these  days  there  are  many  things  which  we 
must  criticize,  although  they  are  the  foundation  of 
our  lives,  for  otherwise  they  would  become  mere 
words,  and  have  no  meaning  to  us.  We  cannot 
expect  that  without  any  effort  of  thought  we  can 
understand  the  thoughts  of  2,500  years  ago.  The 
realities  which  underlie  our  criticism,  though  mani- 
fested in  different  forms,  remain  the  same ;  though 
the  world  grows  old  they  change  not;  though  at 
times  obscured  they  are  again  revealed,  deriving,  as 
in  past  so  also  in  future  ages,  light  and  meaning 
from  the  history  and  experience  of  mankind. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  76.) 

The  Duty  of  the  Critical  Student 

To  the  poor  and  uneducated,  at  times  to  all,  no 
better  advice  can  be  given  for  the  understanding 
of  Scripture  than  to  read  the  Bible  humbly  with 
prayer.  The  critical  and  metaphysical  student  requires 
another  sort  of  rule  for  which  this  can  never  be  made 
a  substitute.  His  duty  is  to  throw  himself  back 
into  the  times,  the  modes  of  thought,  the  language 
of  the  Apostolic  age.  He  must  pass  from  the 
abstract  to  the  concrete,  from  the  ideal  and  intel- 
lectual to  the  spiritual,  from  later  statements  of  faith 
or  doctrine  to  the  words  of  inspiration  which  fell 
from  the  lips  of  the  first  believers.  He  must  seek 
to  conceive  the  religion  of  Christ  in  its  relation  to 
the  religions  of  other  ages  and  distant  countries,  to 
the  philosophy  of  our  own  or  other  times ;  and  if  in 
this  effort  his  mind  seems  to  fail  or  waver,  he  must 


1 40          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

win  back  in  life  and  practice  the  hold  on  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel  which  he  is  beginning  to  lose  in  the 
mazes  of  speculation. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  366.) 

The  Manifestation  of  God 

There  are  some  persons  who  believe  only  in  what 
they  see,  and  God  they  cannot  see ;  there  are  some 
persons  who  accept  only  what  is  definite,  and  God 
cannot  be  defined;  there  are  some  persons  upon 
whose  minds  an  impression  is  only  produced  by 
poetry  or  painting,  and  the  greatest  art  of  Italian  or 
any  other  poet  or  painter  cannot  depict  or  describe 
God.  There  are  another  class  again  who  would 
reject  any  God  whose  existence  cannot  be  demon- 
strated to  them  on  the  principles  of  inductive  science. 
To  all  these,  righteousness,  holiness,  truth,  love, 
instead  of  being  attributes  of  God  and  the  most  real 
of  all  powers  in  the  world,  are  fancies  of  mystics, 
or  abstractions  of  philosophers. 

I  know  that  the  record  in  which  this  divine 
goodness  is  presented  to  us  is  fragmentary,  and  that 
we  cannot  altogether  separate  the  thoughts  of  Christ 
Himself  from  the  impressions  which  the  disciples 
and  evangelists  formed  of  Him.  But  is  this  any 
reason  for  our  not  attempting  to  frame  an  idea  of 
God,  the  highest  and  holiest  which  we  can  ?  If 
there  be  anything  in  the  narrative  of  the  Gospels 
that  is  discordant  or  inconsistent,  either  with  itself 
or  other  truths  not  known  in  that  age  of  the  world, 
that  is  not  to  be  insisted  upon  as  a  part  of  our 
religion.  Our  duty  as  Christians  is  not  to  inquire 
whether  this  or  that  word  of  Christ  has  been  pre- 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          141 

served  with  superhuman  accuracy,  but  to  seek  to 
form  the  highest  idea  of  God  which  we  can,  and  to 
implant  it  in  our  minds  and  in  our  lives. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doc  trine ,  85-6.) 

Evidences  of  God  in  the  Universe 

That  which  seems  to  underlie  our  conception  both 
of  first  and  final  causes,  is  the  idea  of  law  which  we 
see  not  broken  or  intercepted,  or  appearing  only  in 
particular  spots  of  nature,  but  everywhere  and  in  all 
things.  All  things  do  not  equally  exhibit  marks  of 
design,  but  all  things  are  equally  subject  to  the 
operation  of  law.  The  highest  mark  of  intelligence 
pervades  the  whole  ;  no  one  part  is  better  than 
another ;  it  is  all  '  very  good.'  The  absence  of 
design,  if  we  like  so  to  turn  the  phrase,  is  a  part 
of  the  design.  Even  the  less  comely  parts,  like  the 
plain  spaces  in  a  building,  have  elements  of  use  and 
beauty.  He  who  has  ever  thought  in  the  most 
imperfect  manner  of  the  universe  which  modern 
science  unveils,  needs  no  evidence  that  the  details  of 
it  are  incapable  of  being  framed  by  anything  short 
of  a  Divine  power.  Art,  and  nature,  and  science, 
these  three — the  first  giving  us  the  conception  of 
the  relation  of  parts  to  a  whole ;  the  second,  of  end- 
less variety  and  intricacy,  such  as  no  art  has  ever 
attained ;  the  third,  of  uniform  laws  which  amid  all 
the  changes  of  created  things  remain  fixed  as  at  the 
first,  reaching  even  to  the  heavens — are  the  witnesses 
of  the  Creator  in  the  external  world. 

Nor  can  it  weaken  our  belief  in  a  Supreme  Being, 
to  observe  that  the  same  harmony  and  uniformity 
extend  also  to  the  actions  of  men.  Why  should 


142         RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  that  God  should 
give  law  and  order  to  the  spiritual,  no  less  than  the 
natural  creation  ?  That  human  beings  do  not  '  thrust 
or  break  their  ranks ' ;  that  the  life  of  nations,  like 
that  of  plants  or  animals,  has  a  regular  growth  ;  that 
the  same  strata  or  stages  are  observable  in  the 
religions,  no  less  than  the  languages  of  mankind, 
as  in  the  structure  of  the  earth,  are  strange  reasons 
for  doubting  the  Providence  of  God.  Perhaps  it  is 
even  stranger,  that  those  who  do  not  doubt  should 
eye  with  jealousy  the  accumulation  of  such  facts. 
Do  we  really  wish  that  our  conceptions  of  God 
should  only  be  on  the  level  of  the  ignorant;  adequate 
to  the  passing  emotions  of  human  feeling,  but  to 
reason  inadequate  ?  That  Christianity  is  the  con- 
fluence of  many  channels  of  human  thought  does 
not  interfere  with  its  Divine  origin.  It  is  not  the 
less  immediately  the  word  of  God  because  there 
have  been  preparations  for  it  in  all  ages,  and  in 
many  countries. 

The  more  we  take  out  of  the  category  of  chance 
in  the  world  either  of  nature  or  of  mind,  the  more 
present  evidence  we  have  of  the  faithfulness  of  God. 
We  do  not  need  to  have  a  chapter  of  accidents  in 
life  to  enable  us  to  realize  the  existence  of  a  personal 
God,  as  though  events  which  we  can  account  for 
were  not  equally  His  work.  Let  not  use  or  custom 
so  prevail  in  our  minds  as  to  make  this  higher  notion 
of  God  cheerless  or  uncomfortable  to  us.  The  rays 
of  His  presence  may  still  warm  us,  as  well  as 
enlighten  us.  Surely  He,  in  whom  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being,  is  nearer  to  us  than  He 
would  be  if  He  interfered  occasionally  for  our 
benefit. 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          143 

'  The  curtain  of  the  physical  world  is  closing  in 
upon  us  : '  What  does  this  mean  but  that  the  arms 
of  His  intelligence  are  embracing  us  on  every  side  ? 
We  have  no  more  fear  of  nature ;  for  our  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  nature  has  cast  out  fear.  We  know 
Him  as  He  shows  Himself  in  them,  even  as  we  are 
known  of  Him.  Do  we  think  to  draw  near  to 
God  by  returning  to  that  state  in  which  nature 
seemed  to  be  without  law,  when  man  cowered  like 
the  animals  before  the  storm,  and  in  the  meteors 
of  the  skies  and  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
sought  to  read  the  purposes  of  God  respecting 
himself?  Or  shall  we  rest  in  that  stage  of  the  know- 
ledge of  nature  which  was  common  to  the  heathen 
philosophers  and  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Christian 
Church  ?  or  in  that  of  two  hundred  years  ago,  ere 
the  laws  of  the  heavenly  bodies  were  discovered  ? 
or  of  fifty  years  ago,  before  geology  had  established 
its  truths  on  sure  foundations  ?  or  of  thirty  years 
ago,  ere  the  investigation  of  old  language  had  re- 
vealed the  earlier  stages  of  the  history  of  the  human 
mind  ?  At  which  of  these  resting-places  shall  we 
pause  to  renew  the  covenant  between  Reason  and 
Faith  ?  Rather  at  none  of  them,  if  the  first  con- 
dition of  a  true  faith  be  the  belief  in  all  true 
knowledge. 

To  trace  our  belief  up  to  some  primitive  revela- 
tion, to  entangle  it  in  a  labyrinth  of  proofs  or 
analogies,  will  not  infix  it  deeper  or  elevate  its 
character.  Why  should  we  be  willing  to  trust  the 
convictions  of  the  father  of  the  human  race  rather 
than  our  own,  the  faith  of  primitive  rather  than  of 
civilized  times  ?  Or  why  should  we  use  arguments 
about  the  Infinite  Being,  which,  in  proportion  as 


144          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

they  have  force,  reduce  him  to  the  level  of  the  finite ; 
and  which  seem  to  lose  their  force  in  proportion  as 
we  admit  that  God's  ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor 
His  thoughts  as  our  thoughts  ?  The  belief  is  strong 
enough  without  those  fictitious  supports ;  it  cannot 
be  made  stronger  with  them.  While  nature  still 
presents  to  us  this  world  of  unexhausted  wonders ; 
while  sin  and  sorrow  lead  us  to  walk  by  faith,  and 
not  by  sight;  while  the  soul  of  man  departs  this 
life  not  knowing  whither  it  goes,  so  long  will  the 
belief  endure  of  an  Almighty  Creator,  from  whom 
we  came,  to  whom  we  return. 

Why,  again,  should  we  argue  for  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  from  the  analogy  of  the  seed  and  the 
tree,  or  the  state  of  human  beings  before  and  after 
birth,  when  the  ground  of  proof  in  the  one  case  is 
wanting  in  the  other,  namely,  experience  ?  Because 
the  dead  acorn  may  a  century  hence  become  a  spread- 
ing oak,  no  one  would  infer  that  the  corrupted 
remains  of  animals  will  rise  to  life  in  new  forms. 
The  error  is  not  in  the  use  of  such  illustrations  as 
figures  of  speech,  but  in  the  allegation  of  them 
as  proofs  or  evidences  after  the  failure  of  the  analogy 
is  perceived.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  in  popular 
discourse  they  pass  unchallenged ;  it  may  be  a  point 
of  honour  that  they  should  be  maintained,  because 
they  are  in  Paley  or  Butler.  But  evidences  for  the 
many  which  are  not  evidences  for  the  few  are 
treacherous  props  to  Christianity.  They  are  always 
liable  to  come  back  to  us  detected,  and  to  need 
some  other  fallacy  for  their  support. 

Let  it  be  considered,  whether  the  evidences  of 
religion  should  be  separated  from  religion  itself. 
The  Gospel  has  a  truth  perfectly  adapted  to  human 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          145 

nature;  its  origin  and  diffusion  in  the  world  have 
a  history  like  any  other  history.  But  truth  does 
not  need  evidences  of  the  truth,  nor  does  history 
separate  the  proof  of  facts  from  the  facts  themselves. 
It  was  only  in  the  decline  of  philosophy  the  Greeks 
began  to  ask  about  the  criterion  of  knowledge.  What 
would  be  thought  of  an  historian  who  should  collect 
all  the  testimonies  on  one  side  of  some  disputed 
question,  and  insist  on  their  reception  as  a  political 
creed?  Such  evidences  do  not  require  the  hand 
of  some  giant  infidel  to  pull  them  down ;  they  fall 
the  moment  they  are  touched.  But  the  Christian 
faith  is  in  its  holy  place,  uninjured  by  the  fall ;  the 
truths  of  the  existence  of  God,  or  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  are  not  perilled  by  the  observation  that 
some  analogies  on  which  they  have  been  supposed 
to  rest  are  no  longer  tenable.  There  is  no  use  in 
attempting  to  prove  by  the  misapplication  of  the 
methods  of  human  knowledge,  what  we  ought  never 
to  doubt. 

'  There  are  two  things,'  says  a  philosopher  of  the 
last  century,  ( of  which  it  may  be  said,  that  the  more 
we  think  of  them,  the  more  they  fill  the  soul  with 
awe  and  wonder — the  starry  heaven  above,  and  the 
moral  law  within.  I  may  not  regard  either  as 
shrouded  in  darkness,  or  look  for  or  guess  at  either 
in  what  is  beyond,  out  of  my  sight.  I  see  them 
right  before  me,  and  link  them  at  once  with  the 
consciousness  of  my  own  existence.  The  former 
of  the  two  begins  with  place,  which  I  inhabit  as 
a  member  of  the  outward  world,  and  extends  the 
connexion  in  which  I  stand  with  it  into  immeasur- 
able space ;  in  which  are  worlds  upon  worlds,  and 
systems  upon  systems ;  and  so  on  into  the  endless 

L 


146          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

times  of  their  revolutions,  their  beginning  and  con- 
tinuance. The  second  begins  with  my  invisible  self; 
that  is  to  say,  my  personality,  and  presents  me  in 
a  world  which  has  true  infinity,  but  which  the  lower 
faculty  of  the  soul  can  hardly  scan ;  with  which 
I  know  myself  to  be  not  only  as  in  the  world  of 
sight,  in  an  accidental  connexion,  but  in  a  necessary 
and  universal  one.  The  first  glance  at  innumerable 
worlds  annihilates  any  importance  which  I  may 
attach  to  myself  as  an  animal  structure ;  whilst  the 
matter  out  of  which  it  is  made  must  again  return  to 
the  earth  (itself  a  mere  point  in  the  universe),  after 
it  has  been  endued,  one  knows  not  how,  with  the 
power  of  life  for  a  little  season.  The  second  glance 
exalts  me  infinitely  as  an  intelligent  being,  whose 
personality  involves  a  moral  law,  which  reveals  in 
me  a  life  distinct  from  that  of  the  animals,  inde- 
pendent of  the  world  of  sense.  So  much  at  least 
I  may  infer  from  the  regular  determination  of  my 
being  by  this  law,  which  is  itself  infinite,  free  from 
the  limitations  and  conditions  of  this  present  life.' 

So,  in  language  somewhat  technical,  has  Kant 
described  two  great  principles  of  natural  religion. 
'  There  are  two  witnesses,'  we  may  add  in  a  later 
strain  of  reflection,  '  of  the  being  of  God ;  the  order 
of  nature  in  the  world,  and  the  progress  of  the  mind 
of  man.  He  is  not  the  order  of  nature,  nor  the 
progress  of  mind,  nor  both  together ;  but  that  which 
is  above  and  beyond  them ;  of  which  they,  even  if 
conceived  in  a  single  instant,  are  but  the  external 
sign,  the  highest  evidences  of  God  which  we  can 
conceive,  but  not  God  Himself.  The  first  to  the 
ancient  world  seemed  to  be  the  work  of  chance,  or 
the  personal  operation  of  one  or  many  Divine  beings. 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          147 

We  know  it  to  be  the  result  of  laws  endless  in 
their  complexity,  and  yet  not  the  less  admirable  for 
their  simplicity  also.  The  second  has  been  regarded, 
even  in  our  own  day,  as  a  series  of  errors  capri- 
ciously invented  by  the  ingenuity  of  individual  men. 
We  know  it  to  have  a  law  of  its  own,  a  continuous 
order  which  cannot  be  inverted ;  not  to  be  con- 
founded with,  yet  not  wholly  separate  from,  the 
law  of  nature  and  the  will  of  God.  Shall  we  doubt 
the  world  to  be  the  creation  of  a  Divine  power,  only 
because  it  is  more  wonderful  than  could  have  been 
conceived  by  "  them  of  old  time  ";  or  human  reason 
to  be  in  the  image  of  God,  because  it  too  bears  the 
marks  of  an  overruling  law  or  intelligence  ? ' 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  234-9.) 

The  Sacraments 

There  seems  to  be  no  better  explanation  of  the 
Sacraments  than  this,  that  they  are  the  expressions 
of  a  religious  feeling.  The  Sacrament  of  Baptism 
is  not  designed  to  draw  an  invidious  line  between 
baptized  and  unbaptized  infants,  but  to  express  the 
Christian  consciousness  about  all  infants  that  they 
are  the  children  of  God,  and  that,  in  the  language 
of  our  Lord,  '  Their  Angels  do  always  behold  the 
face  of  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven.'  The 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  like  manner, 
is  not  separable  from  the  rest  of  the  believer's  life. 
He  is  always  desirous  to  follow  Christ  and  to  be 
one  with  Him,  and  to  be  as  He  was  in  this  world. 
Of  that  hope  and  aspiration,  so  much  above  the 
ordinary  life  of  man,  of  that  prayer  and  vow,  the 
Communion  is  the  highest,  the  intensified  expression. 
L  2 


148          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

And,  as  men  find  a  relief  in  the  utterance  of  their 
feelings,  so  does  he  find  a  relief  in  the  conscious 
acknowledgement  that  his  highest  desire  in  this 
world  is  to  be  perfect,  to  be  like  Christ.  And, 
as  men  after  a  long  and  weary  toil  will  meet 
together  at  a  feast  to  refresh  their  spirits  and  to 
bind  closer  the  bonds  of  friendship,  so  does  he  go 
to  the  table  of  the  Lord  that  he  may  draw  closer 
the  bonds  which  unite  him  to  Christ,  that  like 
Christ  he  may  forgive  his  enemies,  like  Christ  he 
may  live  only  for  the  good  of  others,  like  Christ 
he  may  be  pure  and  disinterested  in  word  and 
thought,  and  have  communion  with  goodness  and 
truth  everywhere. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  308—9.) 

Good  and  Evil  in  Religion 

All  human  things  are  imperfect,  and  the  good 
and  evil  in  them  grow  together,  and  are  inextricably 
entwined  with  one  another.  There  is  greater  good, 
and  perhaps  greater  evil,  in  religion  than  in  anything 
else,  and  a  more  subtle  combination  of  them  than  in 
other  forms  of  life  and  action.  In  a  critical  age 
such  as  our  own  this  blended  mass  of  .good  and  evil 
is  easily  decomposed.  Mankind  are  always  turning 
out  the  seamy  side  of  religion  to  the  light.  They 
see  that  the  practice  of  professing  Christians  in 
daily  life  scarcely  has  any  relation  to  the  precepts 
of  Christ.  They  reckon  up  the  crimes  of  churches 
in  former  ages ;  the  bloody  wars,  the  terrible  per- 
secutions, the  slavery  of  the  mind,  worse  than  the 
confinement  of  the  body,  which  fanaticism  and 
superstition  have  brought  upon  the  world.  They 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          149 

find  even  now  the  spirit  of  religious  party  clogging 
the  efforts  made  by  statesmen  and  others  for  the 
education  and  improvement  of  mankind.  They 
observe  that  those  who  make  no  profession  of 
religion  are  often  more  honourable  and  upright  in 
their  dealings  than  those  who  are  very  much  under 
the  influence  of  religious  beliefs.  Considering  all 
these  things,  they  are  tempted  to  think  with  the 
Roman  poet  of  old  that  the  new  negation  of  religion 
is  an  emancipation  and  enlargement  of  human  nature. 
They  are  happy  in  having  cast  under  their  feet  the 
traditions  of  priests,  the  curious  lore  of  sacred  books, 
the  terrors  of  the  world  to  come.  Their  text  is 
4  Tan  turn  relligio  potuit  suadere  malorum.'  Without 
denying  the  existence  of  God,  they  believe  that 
nothing  is  to  be  known  of  Him,  and  that  He  can 
only  be  connected  with  us,  if  at  all,  by  the  laws  of 
external  nature. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  1 1 7— 8.) 

6  Doubtful  Disputations ' 

The  words  <  This  is  My  Body,'  '  This  is  My 
Blood,'  have  occasioned  controversies  and  specula- 
tion such  as  no  metaphysician  can  ever  explain. 
Who  can  tell  us  the  difference  between  transubstan- 
tiation  and  consubstantiation  unless  he  can  first 
analyse  the  meaning  of  the  word  *  substance '  ? 
Who  can  give  the  faintest  conception  of  a  real 
presence,  or  a  real  spiritual  presence  of  a  Divine 
nature  in  a  material  object  ? 

Behold  !  He  is  present  everywhere,  and  especially 
in  the  heart  and  reason  of  man.  Are  not  such 
distinctions  like  lines  drawn  upon  an  imaginary 


ISO          RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES 

surface,  or  a  picture  painted  in  space  ?  and  they 
lead  us  on  by  a  sort  of  dialectical  process  immediately 
to  raise  other  questions  which  are  not  less  difficult. 
In  what  manner,  and  by  what  means,  is  the  change 
in  the  elements  affected,  and  at  what  time  is  their 
nature  altered  ?  at  their  consecration,  or  after  we 
have  partaken  only  ?  And  do  all  partake  of  them, 
or  the  worthy  recipients  only  ?  And  has  the  minister, 
who  is  a  man  like  ourselves,  the  power  of  granting 
or  withholding  the  greatest  of  spiritual  benefits,  of 
making,  and  offering  (I  hardly  dare  use  the  words) 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  ?  Then  follows  the 
transfer  of  all  the  powers  of  the  life  to  come  to 
a  human  being,  and  you  have  a  lever  long  enough 
to  move  the  world. 

Owing  to  a  corruption,  beginning  you  can  hardly 
say  when,  in  an  excess  of  religious  feeling,  the 
moral  character  of  religion  is  lost ;  and  the  Sacra- 
ment, instead  of  being  the  simple  bond  which  unites 
Christians  to  their  brethren  and  to  Christ,  becomes 
the  bond  of  a  great  ecclesiastical  power. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  304—5.) 

Exaggerations  of  Religious  Feeling 

It  is  doubtful  whether  exaggerated  books  of 
piety,  resting  upon  no  knowledge  of  human  life,  can 
really  do  good.  They  neither  enlarge,  nor  elevate, 
nor  liberalize  men's  views  of  religion.  They  de- 
mand a  perpetual  strain  on  the  mind.  A  man  is 
never  to  say,  'Thank  God  for  guiding  me  in 
innocence  through  the  day/  but,  '  Forgive  me  for 
all  my  best  deeds.'  This  tends  to  obliterate  all 
distinction  between  right  and  wrong. 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES          151 

Would  it  be  possible  to  combine  in  a  manual 
of  piety  religious  fervour  with  perfect  good  sense 
and  knowledge  of  the  world?  This  has  never 
been  attempted,  and  would  be  a  work  worthy  of 
a  great  genius. 

Is  it  possible  to  feel  a  personal  attachment  to 
Christ  such  as  is  prescribed  by  Thomas  a  Kempis  ? 
I  think  that  it  is  impossible,  and  contrary  to  human 
nature,  that  we  should  be  able  to  concentrate  our 
thoughts  on  a  person  scarcely  known  to  us,  who 
lived  1, 800  years  ago.  But  there  might  be  such 
a  passionate  longing  and  yearning  for  goodness  and 
truth.  The  personal  Christ  might  become  the  ideal 
Christ,  and  this  would  easily  pass  into  the  idea  of 
goodness. 

The  debasement  of  the  individual  before  the 
Divine  Being  is  really  a  sort  of  Pantheism,  so  far 
that  in  the  moral  world  God  is  everything  and  man 
nothing.  But  man  thus  debased  before  God  is  no 
proper  or  rational  worshipper  of  Him.  There  is 
a  want  of  proportion  in  this  sort  of  religion.  God 
who  is  everything  is  not  really  so  much  as  if  He 
allowed  the  most  exalted  free  agencies  to  exist  side 
by  side  with  Him.  The  greater  the  beings  under 
Him,  the  greater  He  is. 

Is  it  possible  for  me,  perhaps  ten  years  hence, 
to  write  a  new  Thomas  a  Kempis,  going  as  deeply 
into  the  foundations  of  human  life,  and  yet  not 
revolting  the  common  sense  of  the  nineteenth  century 
by  his  violent  contrast  between  this  world  and 
another?  (Life,  ii.  151-2.) 


VII 
THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  Comparative  Study  of  Religions 

AMONG  the  many  causes  at  present  in  existence 
which  will  influence  '  the  Church  of  the  future/ 
none  is  likely  to  have  greater  power  than  our  increasing 
knowledge  of  the  religions  of  mankind.  The  study 
of  them  is  the  first  step  in  the  philosophical  study  of 
revelation  itself.  For  Christianity  or  the  Mosaic 
religion,  standing  alone,  is  hardly  a  subject  for 
scientific  inquiry  :  only  when  compared  with  other 
forms  of  faith  do  we  perceive  its  true  place  in 
history,  or  its  true  relation  to  human  nature.  The 
glory  of  Christianity  is  not  to  be  as  unlike  other 
religions  as  possible,  but  to  be  their  perfection  and 
fulfilment.  Those  religions  are  so  many  steps  in  the 
education  of  the  human  race.  One  above  another, 
they  rise  or  grow  side  by  side,  each  nation,  in  many 
ages,  contributing  some  partial  ray  of  a  divine  light, 
some  element  of  morality,  some  principle  of  social 
life,  to  the  common  stock  of  mankind.  The  thoughts 
of  men,  like  the  productions  of  Nature,  do  not  end- 
lessly diversify ;  they  work  themselves  out  in  a  few 
simple  forms.  In  the  fullness  of  time,  philosophy 
appears,  shaking  off,  yet  partly  retaining,  the  nation- 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        153 

ality  and  particularity  of  its  heathen  origin.  Its  top 
'  reaches  to  heaven/  but  it  has  no  root  in  the  common 
life  of  man.  At  last,  the  crown  of  all,  the  chief 
corner-stone  of  the  building,  when  the  impressions 
of  Nature  and  the  reflections  of  the  mind  upon  itself 
have  been  exhausted,  Christianity  arises  in  the 
world,  seeming  to  stand  in  the  same  relation  to 
the  inferior  religions  that  man  does  to  the  inferior 
animals.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  1 86.) 

Buddhism 

That  there  is  a  faith  which  has  a  greater  number 
of  worshippers  than  all  sects  of  Christians  put 
together,  which  originated  in  a  reformation  of  society, 
tyrannized  over  by  tradition,  spoiled  by  philosophy, 
torn  asunder  by  caste — which  might  be  described, 
in  the  words  of  Scripture,  as  a  'preaching  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  poor ' ;  that  this  faith,  besides  its 
more  general  resemblance  to  Christianity,  has  its 
incarnation,  its  monks,  its  saints,  its  hierarchy, 
its  canonical  books,  its  miracles,  its  councils,  the 
whole  system  being  'full  blown'  before  the  Christian 
era;  that  the  founder  of  this  religion  descended 
from  a  throne  to  teach  the  lesson  of  equality  among 
men — ('there  is  no  distinction  of  Chinese  or 
Hindoo,  Brahmin  or  Sudra,  such  at  least  was  the 
indirect  consequence  of  his  doctrine) — that,  himself 
contented  with  nothing,  he  preached  to  his  followers 
the  virtues  of  poverty,  self-denial,  chastity,  temperance, 
and  that  once,  at  least,  he  is  described  as  'taking 
upon  himself  the  sins  of  mankind  ' : — these  are  facts 
which,  when  once  known,  are  not  easily  forgotten ; 
they  seem  to  open  an  undiscovered  world  to  us,  and 


154        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

to  cast  a  new  light  on  Christianity  itself.  And  it 
'  harrows  us  with  fear  and  wonder '  to  learn  that 
this  vast  system,  numerically  the  most  universal  or 
catholic  of  all  religions,  and,  in  many  of  its  leading 
features,  most  like  Christianity,  is  based,  not  on  the 
hope  of  eternal  life,  but  of  complete  annihilation. 
(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  1 88.) 

The  Value  of  Comparative  Theology 

The  study  of  '  comparative  theology '  not  only 
helps  to  distinguish  the  accidents  from  the  essence 
of  Christianity ;  it  also  affords  a  new  kind  of  testimony 
to  its  truth  ;  it  shows  what  the  world  was  aiming  at 
through  many  cycles  of  human  history — what  the 
Gospel  alone  fulfilled.  The  Gentile  religions,  from 
being  enemies,  became  witnesses  of  the  Christian 
faith.  They  are  no  longer  adverse  positions  held  by 
the  powers  of  evil,  but  outworks  or  buttresses,  like 
the  courts  of  the  Temple  on  Mount  Sion,  covering  the 
holy  place.  Granting  that  some  of  the  doctrines  and 
teachers  of  the  heathen  world  were  nearer  the  truth 
than  we  once  supposed,  such  resemblances  cause  no 
alarm  or  uneasiness ;  we  have  no  reason  to  fable 
that  they  are  the  fragments  of  some  primaeval  revela- 
tion. We  look  forwards,  not  backwards ;  to  the 
end,  not  to  the  beginning;  not  to  the  garden  of 
Eden,  but  to  the  life  of  Christ.  There  is  no  longer 
any  need  to  maintain  a  thesis ;  we  have  the  perfect 
freedom  and  real  peace  which  is  attained  by  the 
certainty  that  we  know  all,  and  that  nothing  is  kept 
back.  Such  was  the  position  of  Christianity  in 
former  ages  ;  it  was  on  a  level  with  the  knowledge 
of  mankind.  But  in  later  years  unworthy  fear  has 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        155 

too  often  paralysed  its  teachers  :  instead  of  seeking 
to  readjust  its  relations  to  the  present  state  of  history 
and  science,  they  have  clung  in  agony  to  the  past. 
For  the  Gospel  is  the  child  of  light ;  it  lives  in  the 
light  of  this  world ;  it  has  no  shifts  or  conceal- 
ments ;  there  is  no  kind  of  knowledge  which  it  needs 
to  suppress ;  it  allows  us  to  see  the  good  in  all 
things  ;  it  does  not  forbid  us  to  observe  also  the 
evil  which  has  incrusted  upon  itself.  It  is  willing 
that  we  should  look  calmly  and  steadily  at  all  the 
facts  of  the  history  of  religion.  It  takes  no  offence 
at  the  remark,  that  it  has  drawn  into  itself  the  good 
of  other  religions  ;  that  the  laws  and  institutions  of 
the  Roman  Empire  have  supplied  the  outer  form, 
and  heathen  philosophy  some  of  the  inner  mechanism 
which  was  necessary  to  its  growth  in  the  world. 
No  violence  is  done  to  its  spirit  by  the  enumeration 
of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  its  success.  It 
permits  us  also  to  note,  that  while  it  has  purified  the 
civilization  of  the  West,  there  are  soils  of  earth  on 
which  it  seems  hardly  capable  of  living  without 
becoming  corrupt  or  degenerate.  Such  knowledge 
is  innocent  and  a  'creature  of  God.'  And  con- 
sidering how  much  of  the  bitterness  of  Christians 
against  one  another  arises  from  ignorance  and  a  false 
conception  of  the  nature  of  religion,  it  is  not  chi- 
merical to  imagine  that  the  historical  study  of  religions 
may  be  a  help  to  Christian  charity.  The  least 
differences  seem  often  to  be  the  greatest ;  the  per- 
ception of  the  greater  differences  makes  the  lesser 
insignificant.  Living  within  the  sphere  of  Christi- 
anity, it  is  good  for  us  sometimes  to  place  ourselves 
without;  to  turn  away  from  'the  weak  and  beggarly 
elements '  of  worn-out  controversies  to  contemplate 


156        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  great  phases  of  human  existence.  Looking  at 
the  religions  of  mankind,  succeeding  one  another  in 
a  wonderful  order,  it  is  hard  to  narrow  our  minds 
to  party  or  sectarian  views  in  our  own  age  or  country. 
Had  it  been  known  that  a  dispute  about  faith  and 
works  existed  among  Buddhists,  would  not  this 
knowledge  have  modified  the  great  question  of  the 
Reformation  ?  Such  studies  have  also  a  philosophical 
value  as  well  as  a  Christian  use.  They  may, 
perhaps,  open  to  us  a  new  page  in  the  history  of 
our  own  minds,  as  well  as  in  the  history  of  the 
human  race.  Mankind,  in  primitive  times,  seem  at 
first  sight  very  unlike  ourselves  :  as  we  look  upon 
them  with  sympathy  and  interest,  a  likeness  begins 
to  appear ;  in  us  too  there  is  a  piece  of  the  primitive 
man ;  many  of  his  wayward  fancies  are  the  carica- 
tures of  our  errors  or  perplexities.  If  a  clearer 
light  is  ever  to  be  thrown  either  on  the  nature  of 
religion  or  of  the  human  mind,  it  will  come,  not 
from  analyses  of  the  individual  or  from  inward 
experience,  but  from  a  study  of  the  mental  history 
of  mankind,  and  especially  of  those  ages  in  which 
human  nature  was  fusile,  still  not  yet  cast  in  a  mould, 
and  rendered  incapable  of  receiving  new  creations 
or  impressions. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  192-4.) 

The  Sources  of  Corruption  in  Religion 

*  If  we  turn  from  ecclesiastical  history  to  the 
larger  page  of  the  religions  of  the  world,  we  see 
the  same  tendencies  at  work,  to  organization,  to 
ritualism,  to  disputes  about  doctrines — and  often 
about  the  same  doctrines ;  and  they  have  had  similar 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        157 

revivals.  Nor  can  we  say  that  mankind  have  shown 
any  aversion  to  religion,  or  that  the  popular  beliefs 
in  all  times  have  not  found  ready  recipients.  In 
early  ages  the  tendencies  to  belief  and  not  to 
unbelief  have  been  the  sources  of  corruption  in 
religion.  They  thought  that  they  could  never  have 
too  much  religion,  or  too  many  observances,  until 
human  life  sank  under  the  burden,  and  the  power  to 
move  upward  was  gone.  The  Brahmin  was  so 
overweighted  with  his  religious  books,  so  bound 
hand  and  foot  within  the  trammels  of  his  ceremonial, 
that  he  had  no  power  to  lift  up  his  eyes  to  the  God 
and  Father  of  us  all ;  and  the  first  principles  of  right 
and  wrong  seemed  to  him  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  the  recitation  of  a  verse  out  of  the  Vedas  or  the 
performance  of  a  ceremonial  according  to  a  prescribed 
mode.  A  fatal  power  hung  over  him  which  he 
was  unable  to  resist,  and  still  more  unable  in  every 
succeeding  age  than  he  had  been  in  the  preceding. 
He  could  bind  the  chains  fast,  but  he  could  not 
shake  them  off.  He  could  repeat  the  same  prayer 
to  the  Sun  which  his  ancestors  had  uttered  3,000 
years  ago,  but  he  could  not  approach  the  true  light. 
He  could  define  more  and  more,  he  could  describe 
the  Vedas  in  more  and  more  exaggerated  language. 
But  to  take  a  step  backward  to  simplicity  and  truth 
was  beyond  his  power :  such  an  impulse  must  come 
to  him  from  without — from  some  foreign  nation, 
from  some  new  species  of  knowledge,  from  the 
progress  of  the  mechanical  arts.  The  organization 
to  which  he  belonged  was  impervious  to  any  truth  ; 
and,  as  the  world  seemed  to  advance,  retired  more 
and  more  into  the  distance,  wrapt  in  ancient  pride, 
and  fortified  by  the  practice  of  religious  exercises, 


158        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

unshaken  in  the  faith  that  they  alone  are  the  twice- 
born  race  and  the  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  (  Unpublished. ) 

The  Growth  of  Early  Religions 

The  theory  of  a  primitive  tradition,  common  to 
all  mankind,  has  only  to  be  placed  distinctly  before 
the  mind  to  make  us  aware  that  it  is  the  fabric  of 
a  vision.  But,  even  if  it  were  conceivable,  it  would 
be  inconsistent  with  facts.  Ancient  history  says 
nothing  of  a  general  religion,  but  of  particular  national 
ones ;  of  received  beliefs  about  places  and  persons, 
about  animal  life,  about  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
about  the  Divine  essence  permeating  the  world, 
about  gods  in  the  likeness  of  men  appearing  in 
battles  and  directing  the  course  of  states,  about  the 
shades  below,  about  sacrifices,  purifications,  initia- 
tions, magic,  mysteries.  These  were  the  religions 
of  nature,  which  in  historical  times  have  received 
from  custom  also  a  second  nature.  Early  poetry 
shows  us  the  same  religions  in  a  previous  stage, 
while  they  are  still  growing,  and  fancy  is  freely 
playing  around  the  gods  of  its  own  creation. 
Language  and  mythology  carry  us  a  step  further 
back,  into  a  mental  world  yet  more  distant  and 
more  unlike  our  own.  That  world  is  a  prison  of 
sense,  in  which  outward  objects  take  the  place 
of  ideas ;  in  which  morality  is  a  fact  of  nature, 
and  'wisdom  at  one  entrance  quite  shut  out/ 
Human  beings  in  that  prehistoric  age  seem  to 
have  had  only  a  kind  of  limited  intelligence ;  they 
were  the  slaves,  as  we  should  say,  of  association. 
They  were  rooted  in  particular  spots,  or  wandered 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        159 

up  and  down  upon  the  earth,  confusing  themselves 
and  God  and  nature,  gazing  timidly  on  the  world 
around,  starting  at  their  very  shadows,  and  seeing 
in  all  things  a  superhuman  power  at  the  mercy  of 
which  they  were.  They  had  no  distinction  of  body 
and  soul,  mind  and  matter,  physical  and  moral. 
Their  conceptions  were  neither  here  nor  there ; 
neither  sensible  objects,  nor  symbols  of  the  unseen. 
Their  gods  were  very  near  ;  the  neighbouring  hill 
or  passing  stream,  brute  matter  as  we  regard  it, 
to  them  a  divinity,  because  it  seemed  inspired  with 
a  life  like  their  own.  They  could  not  have  formed 
an  idea  of  the  whole  earth,  much  less  of  the  God 
who  made  it.  Their  mixed  modes  of  thought, 
their  figures  of  speech,  which  are  not  figures,  their 
personifications  of  nature,  their  reflections  of  the 
individual  upon  the  world,  and  of  the  world  upon 
the  individual,  the  omnipresence  to  them  of  the 
sensuous  and  visible,  indicate  an  intellectual  state 
which  it  is  impossible  for  us,  with  our  regular 
divisions  of  thought,  even  to  conceive.  We  must 
raze  from  the  table  of  the  mind  their  language,  ere 
they  could  become  capable  of  a  universal  religion. 

But  although  we  find  no  vestiges  of  a  primaeval 
revelation,  and  cannot  imagine  how  such  a  revelation 
could  have  been  possible  consistently  with  those 
indications  of  the  state  of  man  which  language  and 
mythology  supply,  it  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  the 
primitive  peoples  of  mankind  have  a  religious  prin- 
ciple common  to  all.  Religion,  rather  than  reason, 
is  the  faculty  of  man  in  the  earliest  stage  of  his 
existence.  Reverence  for  powers  above  him  is  the 
first  principle  which  raises  the  individual  out  of 
himself;  the  germ  of  political  order,  and  probably 


160        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

also  of  social  life.  It  is  the  higher  necessity  of 
nature,  as  hunger  and  the  animal  passions  are  the 
lower.  '  The  clay '  falls  before  the  rising  dawn  ; 
it  may  stumble  over  stocks  and  stones;  but  it  is 
struggling  upwards  into  a  higher  day.  The  wor- 
shipper is  drawn  as  by  a  magnet  to  some  object 
out  of  himself.  He  is  weak  and  must  have  a  god ; 
he  has  the  feeling  of  a  slave  towards  his  master, 
of  a  child  towards  its  parents,  of  the  lower  animals 
towards  himself.  The  being  whom  he  serves  is, 
like  himself,  passionate  and  capricious  ;  he  sees  him 
starting  up  everywhere  in  the  unmeaning  accidents 
of  life.  The  good  which  he  values  himself  he 
attributes  to  him  ;  there  is  no  proportion  in  his 
ideas ;  the  great  power  of  nature  is  the  lord  also 
of  sheep  and  oxen.  Sometimes,  with  childish  joy, 
he  invites  the  god  to  drink  of  his  beverage  or  eat 
of  his  food  ;  at  other  times,  the  orgies  which  he 
enacts  before  him,  lead  us  seriously  to  ask  the 
question  'whether  religion  may  not  in  truth  have 
been  a  kind  of  madness.'  He  propitiates  him  and 
is  himself  soothed  and  comforted ;  again  he  is  at 
his  mercy,  and  propitiates  him  again.  So  the  dream 
of  life  is  rounded  to  the  poor  human  creature :  in- 
capable as  he  is  of  seeing  his  true  Father,  religion 
seems  to  exercise  over  him  a  fatal  overpowering 
influence ;  the  religion  of  nature  we  cannot  call  it, 
for  that  would  of  itself  lead  to  a  misconception, 
but  the  religion  of  the  place  in  which  he  lives,  of  the 
objects  which  he  sees,  of  the  tribe  to  which  he 
belongs,  of  the  animal  forms  which  range  in  the 
wilds  around  him,  mingling  strangely  with  the  wit- 
ness of  his  own  spirit  that  there  is  in  the  world 
a  being  above  him. 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        161 

Out  of  this  troubled  and  perplexed  state  of  the 
human  fancy  the  great  religions  of  the  world  arose, 
all  of  them  in  different  degrees  affording  a  rest  to 
the  mind,  and  reducing  to  rule  and  measure  the 
wayward  impulses  of  human  nature.  All  of  them 
had  a  history  in  antecedent  ages ;  there  is  no  stage 
in  which  they  do  not  offer  indications  of  an  earlier 
religion  which  preceded  them.  Whether  they  came 
into  being,  like  some  geological  formations,  by  slow 
deposits,  or,  like  others,  by  the  shock  of  an  earth- 
quake, that  is,  by  some  convulsion  and  settlement 
of  the  human  mind,  is  a  question  which  may  be 
suggested,  but  cannot  be  answered.  The  Hindoo 
Pantheon,  even  in  the  antique  form  in  which  the 
world  of  deities  is  presented  in  the  Vedas,  implies 
a  growth  of  fancy  and  ceremonial  which  may  have 
continued  for  thousands  of  years.  Probably  at 
a  much  earlier  period  than  we  are  able  to  trace 
them,  religions,  like  languages,  had  their  distinctive 
characters  with  corresponding  differences  in  the  first 
rude  constitution  of  society.  As  in  the  case  of 
languages,  it  is  a  fair  subject  of  inquiry,  whether 
they  do  not  all  mount  up  to  some  elementary  type 
in  which  they  were  more  nearly  allied  to  sense  ; 
a  primaeval  religion,  in  which  we  may  imagine  the 
influence  of  nature  was  analogous  to  the  first  impres- 
sions of  the  outward  world  on  the  infant's  wondering 
eyesight,  and  the  earliest  worship  may  be  compared 
with  the  first  use  of  signs  or  stammering  of  speech. 
Such  a  religion  we  may  conceive  as  springing  from 
simple  instinct;  yet  an  instinct  higher,  even  in  its 
lowest  degree,  than  the  instinct  of  the  animal 
creation;  in  which  the  fear  of  nature  combined 
with  the  assertion  of  sway  over  it,  which  had 
M 


162        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

already  a  law  of  progress,  and  was  beginning  to  set 
bounds  to  the  spiritual  chaos.  Of  this  aboriginal 
state  we  only  ;  entertain  conjecture  ' ;  it  is  beyond 
the  horizon,  even  when  the  eye  is  strained  to  the 
uttermost. 

But  if  the  first  origin  of  the  heathen  religions  is 
in  the  clouds,  their  decline,  though  a  phenomenon 
with  which  we  are  familiar  in  history,  of  which  in 
some  parts  of  the  world  we  are  living  witnesses,  is 
also  obscure  to  us.  The  kind  of  knowledge  that 
we  have  of  them  is  like  our  knowledge  of  the  ways 
of  animals  ;  we  see  and  observe,  but  we  cannot  get 
inside  them ;  we  cannot  think  or  feel  with  their 
worshippers.  Most  or  all  of  them  are  in  a  state  of 
decay ;  they  have  lost  their  life  or  creative  power ; 
once  adequate  to  the  wants  of  man,  they  have  ceased 
to  be  so  for  ages.  Naturally  we  should  imagine 
that  the  religion  itself  would  pass  away  when  its 
meaning  was  no  longer  understood;  that  with  the 
spirit,  the  letter  too  would  die ;  that  when  the  cir- 
cumstances of  a  nation  changed,  the  rites  of  worship 
to  which  they  had  given  birth  would  be  forgotten. 
The  reverse  is  the  fact.  Old  age  affords  examples 
of  habits  which  become  insane  and  inveterate  at  a 
time  when  they  have  no  longer  an  object;  that  is 
an  image  of  the  antiquity  of  religions.  Modes  of 
worship,  rules  of  purification,  set  forms  of  words, 
cling  with  a  greater  tenacity  when  they  have  no 
meaning  or  purpose.  The  habit  of  a  week  or  a 
month  may  be  thrown  off;  not  the  habit  of  a  thou- 
sand years.  The  hand  of  the  past  lies  heavily  on 
the  present  in  all  religions ;  in  the  East  it  is  a  yoke 
which  has  never  been  shaken  off.  Empire,  freedom, 
among  the  educated  classes  belief  may  pass  away, 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        163 

and  yet  the  routine  of  ceremonial  continues  ;  the 
political  glory  of  a  religion  may  be  set  at  the  time 
when  its  power  over  the  minds  of  men  is  most 
ineradicable. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  211-5.) 

The  Roman  Religion 

What  the  religion  of  Greece  was  to  philosophy 
and  art,  that  the  Roman  religion  may  be  said  to 
have  been  to  political  and  social  life.  It  was  the 
religion  of  the  family ;  the  religion  also  of  the  empire 
of  the  world.  Beginning  in  rustic  simplicity,  the 
traces  of  which  it  ever  afterwards  retained,  it  grew 
with  the  power  of  the  Roman  state,  and  became  one 
with  its  laws.  No  fancy  or  poetry  moulded  the 
forms  of  the  Roman  gods ;  they  are  wanting  in 
character  and  hardly  distinguishable  from  one  another. 
Not  what  they  were,  but  their  worship,  is  the  point 
of  interest  about  them.  Those  inanimate  beings 
occasionally  said  a  patriotic  word  at  some  critical 
juncture  of  the  Roman  affairs,  but  they  had  no 
attributes  or  qualities ;  they  are  the  mere  impersona- 
tion of  the  needs  of  the  state.  They  were  easily 
identified  in  civilized  and  literary  times  with  the 
Olympic  deities,  but  the  transformation  was  only 
superficial.  Greece  never  conquered  the  religion  of 
its  masters.  Great  as  was  the  readiness  in  later 
times  to  admit  the  worship  of  foreign  deities,  end- 
less as  were  the  forms  of  private  superstition,  these 
intrusions  never  weakened  or  broke  the  legal  hold  of 
the  Roman  religion.  It  was  truly  the  *  established ' 
religion.  It  represented  the  greatness  and  power  of 
Rome.  The  deification  of  the  Emperor,  though 
M  2 


1 64        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

disagreeable  to  the  more  spiritual  and  intellectual 
feelings  of  that  age  of  the  world,  was  its  natural 
development.  While  Rome  lasted  the  Roman 
religion  lasted;  like  some  vast  fabric  which  the 
destroyers  of  a  great  city  are  unable  wholly  to 
demolish,  it  continued,  though  in  ruins,  after  the 
irruption  of  the  Goths,  and  has  exercised,  through 
the  medium  of  the  civil  law,  a  power  over  modern 
Europe.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  222-3.) 

The  Two  Great  Forms  of  Religion 

I.  The  sense  and  practice  of  the  presence  of 
God,  the  sight  of  Him,  and  the  knowledge  of  Him 
as  the  great  overruling  law  of  progress  in  the  world, 
whether  personal  or  impersonal ;  the  sympathy  and 
the  harmony  of  the  physical  and  moral,  and  of 
something  unknown  which  is  greater  than  either ; 
the  God  of  truth  in  the  dealings  of  men  with  one 
another,  and  in  the  universe ;  the  ideal  to  which  all 
men  are  growing. 

The  best  of  humanity  is  the  most  perfect  re- 
flection of  God :  humanity  as  it  might  be,  not  as  it 
is ;  and  the  way  up  to  Him  is  to  be  found  in  the 
lives  of  the  best  and  greatest  men ;  of  saints  and 
legislators  and  philosophers,  the  founders  of  states, 
and  the  founders  of  religions — allowing  for,  and 
seeking  to  correct  their  necessary  onesidedness. 
These  heroes,  or  demi-gods,  or  benefactors,  as  they 
would  have  been  called  by  the  ancients,  are  the 
mediators  between  God  and  man.  Whither  they 
went  we  also  are  going,  and  may  be  content  to 
follow  in  their  footsteps. 

We  are   always  thinking   of    ourselves,   hardly 


RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD        165 

ever  of  God,  or  of  great  and  good  men  who  are 
His  image.  This  egotism  requires  to  be  abated 
before  we  can  have  any  real  idea  of  His  true  nature. 
The  '  I '  is  our  God — What  we  shall  eat  ?  What 
we  shall  drink  ?  What  we  shall  do  ?  How  we  shall 
have  a  flattering  consciousness  of  our  own  importance? 
There  is  no  room  left  for  the  idea  of  God,  and 
law,  and  duty. 

II.  The  second  great  truth  of  religion  is  resigna- 
tion to  the  general  facts  of  the  world  and  of  life. 
In  Christianity  we  live,  but  Christianity  is  fast 
becoming  one  religion  among  many.  We  believe 
in  a  risen  Christ,  not  risen  however  in  the  sense  in 
which  a  drowning  man  is  restored  to  life,  nor  even 
in  the  sense  in  which  a  ghost  is  supposed  to  walk 
the  earth,  nor  in  any  sense  which  we  can  define  or 
explain.  We  pray  to  Go.d  as  a  person,  a  larger 
self;  but  there  must  always  be  a  sub-intelligttur  that 
He  is  not  a  person.  Our  forms  of  worship,  public 
and  private,  imply  some  interference  with  the  course 
of  nature.  We  know  that  the  empire  of  law  per- 
meates all  things. 

4  You  impose  upon  us  with  words ;  you  deprive 
us  of  all  our  hopes,  joys,  motives ;  you  undermine 
the  foundations  of  morality.' 

No !  there  is  no  greater  comfort,  no  stronger 
motive  than  the  knowledge  of  things  as  they  truly 
are,  apart  from  illusions  and  pretences,  and  conven- 
tions, and  theological  formulas.  '  Be  not  deceived/ 
God  is  not  other  than  He  is  seen  to  be  in  this 
world,  if  we  rightly  understand  the  indications  which 
He  gives  of  Himself.  Highest  among  these  indi- 
cations is  the  moral  law,  which  exists  everywhere 
and  among  all  men  in  some  degree,  and  to  which 


1 66        RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

there  is  no  limit,  nor  ever  will  be,  while  the  world 
lasts  ;  the  least  seed  of  moral  truth  possessing  an 
infinite  potentiality,  and  this  inspiration  for  the  idea 
is  strengthened  and  cherished  by  the  efforts  of  a 
holy  and  devoted  life,  which  appears  to  be  the 
greatest  moral  power  in  the  world. 

Anybody  who  gives  himself  up  for  the  good  of 
others,  who  takes  up  his  cross,  will  find  heaven  on 
this  earth,  and  will  trust  God  for  all  the  rest. 

Anybody  who  accepts  facts  as  they  truly  are, 
and  in  proportion  to  his  knowledge  of  them,  will 
have  no  more  doubts  and  difficulties,  and  reconcilia- 
tions of  science  and  religion,  or  inquiries  about  the 
date  and  authorship  of  the  Gospels.  To  him  the 
historical  character  of  these  and  other  ancient  writings 
sinks  into  insignificance  in  comparison  with  their 
moral  value. 


VIII 
THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

Things  which  cannot  be  shaken 

THERE  appears  to  be  in  the  minds  of  many 
persons  a  good  deal  of  apprehension  about  the  future 
of  religion.  These  alarms  which  have  been  always 
felt  in  all  ages  of  the  Church  seem  in  our  own  day 
to  have  increased,  and  perhaps  with  some  reason. 
We  see  powerful  influences  at  work  and  rapid 
changes  taking  place,  and  we  cannot  pretend  to 
foretell  what  will  be  the  course  of  religious  opinion 
in  this  or  other  countries  fifty  or  even  twenty  years 
hence.  Not  only  the  speculative  reconcilement  of 
science  and  religion  appears  to  be  distant,  but  the 
practical  reconcilement  of  them  in  our  own  life  and 
conduct  is  not  free  from  difficulty.  For  we  are 
subject  to  opposite  and  discordant  influences ;  we 
hear  one  voice  speaking  to  us  in  the  churches  and 
another  in  the  newspapers  or  the  lecture-room.  And 
some  persons  have  thought  that  they  would  be  quit 
of  the  difficulty  by  being  quit  of  religion  ;  they  have 
gone  further  and  further  away  from  the  faith  of  their 
fathers,  putting  the  world  in  the  place  of  God,  the 
laws  of  nature  in  the  place  of  moral  and  spiritual 
truths.  Yet,  perhaps,  we  should  not  attach  too 
much  importance  to  such  changes ;  for  there  are 


168        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

some  who,  in  the  days  of  their  youth,  have  lightly 
laid  aside  all  regard  to  religion,  and  have  died  in  the 
bosom  of  an  infallible  church.  And  there  are 
others  who  have  gone  to  the  opposite  pole,  and  then 
in  middle  life  they  have  found  the  articles  of  belief 
which  they  had  eagerly  embraced  in  youth  slipping 
from  under  them,  and  their  life  has  set  in  darkness 
and  doubt.  There  have  been  times  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  when  the  true  meaning  of  the  Gospel 
seemed  to  be  almost  lost ;  when,  in  the  beautiful 
words  of  the  great  Catholic  historian,  '  Christ  was 
in  the  ship,  but  asleep ;  '  and  to  these  times  of 
lethargy  and  vacancy  have  succeeded  other  times 
of  revival,  awakening,  reformation,  counter-reforma- 
tion. Therefore  we  should  look  forward  in  faith  to 
the  future,  and  not  be  too  much  influenced  by  the 
accidents  of  the  age  in  which  we  live — the  state  of 
knowledge,  the  progress  of  criticism,  the  conflict 
of  ideas  and  modes  of  thinking.  Human  nature 
has  been  so  created  by  God  as  to  be  sufficient  for 
itself  under  all  its  trials.  The  world  is  moving  on 
fast ;  ideas  which  are  in  the  air  trouble  our  minds ; 
at  times  they  seem  quite  to  overpower  us ;  and  we 
want  to  know  where,  amid  the  floating  sands  of 
opinion,  we  may  find  some  rock  or  anchor  of  the 
soul. 

Is  not  the  answer  the  same  as  of  old,  'The 
things  which  are  shaken  are  being  removed,  that  the 
things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain  '  ?  The 
law  of  duty,  the  standards  of  morality,  the  relations 
of  family  life  are  unchanged.  No  one  can  truly  say 
that  he  is  uncertain  about  right  and  wrong.  '  Where- 
withal shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  ? '  The 
answer  is  the  same  as  it  always  was,  '  Even  by 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION         169 

ruling  himself  after  Thy  word/  The  nature  of  true 
religion  is  not  altered  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  c  To  do  justice,  to  love  mercy,  to 
walk  humbly  with  God ;  '  c  to  visit  the  fatherless 
and  widow,  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the 
world ; '  to  live  always  c  as  unto  the  Lord,  and 
not  unto  men ' ;  '  to  be  kindly  affectioned  one  to 
another ; '  to  c  take  up  the  cross  and  follow  Christ ' 
(if  we  are  capable  of  it)  :  which  of  these  precepts  is 
changed  by  the  inquiries  of  criticism  ?  Which  of 
them  does  not  come  home  to  us,  not  only  as  a  word 
of  the  New  Testament,  but  as  a  self-evident  duty 
or  truth  ? 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  208-10.) 

Religious  Progress 

Religion  has  become  simpler  than  formerly ;  it  is 
not  so  dependent  on  language ;  it  is  not  so  much 
disputed  about  as  in  the  older  times.  Mankind  have 
a  larger  and  truer  conception  of  the  Divine  nature ; 
they  have  also  a  wider  knowledge  of  themselves. 
They  see  the  various  forms  of  Christianity  which 
prevail  in  their  own  and  other  countries,  they  trace 
their  origin  and  history,  and  they  rise  above  them  to 
that  higher  part  of  Christian  belief  which  they  have 
in  common.  Their  vision  extends  yet  further,  to 
the  great  religions  of  the  East,  and  the  controversies 
and  phases  of  faith  which  have  absorbed  them. 
They  set  aside  lesser  perplexing  questions,  whether 
of  criticism  or  of  philosophy,  which  are  neither  im- 
portant nor  capable  of  being  satisfactorily  answered. 
They  turn  from  theology  to  life,  from  disputes  about 
the  person  of  Christ  to  the  imitation  of  Him  *  who 


i;o        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

went  about  doing  good/  He  who  begins  by  asking, 
4  What  is  the  evidence  of  miracles  ?  How  are  the 
discrepancies  of  the  Gospels  to  be  accounted  for  ? 
How  can  the  physical  and  spiritual  qualities  of  man 
be  harmonized? '  is  losing  himself  in  questions  which 
may  continue  to  be  in  dispute  long  after  he  is  in  his 
grave.  But  to  him  who  asks  :  '  How  can  I  become 
better  ?  How  can  I  do  the  will  of  God  ?  How 
can  I  serve  my  fellow  men  ?  How  can  I  serve 
Christ  ? '  the  answer  is  in  a  manner  contained  in  the 
question.  He  has  the  witness  in  himself  of  what  is 
holy  and  just  and  true.  He  knows  that  righteous- 
ness and  truth  are  the  will  of  God  ;  and  he  has  the 
witness  of  life  and  history  to  the  consequences  of 
human  actions. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  211— 2.) 

The  True  Evidences  of  Christianity 

*  The  world  is  moving  onwards,  and  there  is 
nothing  more  likely  to  hinder  the  progress  of 
Christianity  than  the  confusion  of  the  accidents 
of  the  Christian  religion  with  the  essence  of  it. 
If  we  will  insist  on  seeing  signs  and  wonders,  or 
rather  on  the  belief  in  them,  we  can  hardly  main- 
tain that  the  religion  of  Christ  is  equally  adapted 
to  all  ages  and  countries.  We  cannot  demand  of 
men,  as  a  condition  of  salvation,  that  they  should 
acknowledge  any  fact  except  in  proportion  to  the 
evidence  which  witnesses  to  it.  What  Christ  never 
insisted  upon,  neither  let  us  insist  upon.  There 
is  no  question  raised  by  Him  of  the  truth  of  a  Super- 
natural religion.  It  would  only  have  been  by  a  long 
course  of  education  that  His  disciples  could  have 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION         171 

understood  the  very  meaning  of  the  word.  There- 
fore, without  entering  on  the  vexed  question  of 
miracles,  and  without  denying  that  'there  are  more 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamed  of  in 
our  philosophy/  I  think  the  time  has  come  when 
we  must  no  longer  allow  them  to  be  stumbling- 
blocks  in  the  way  of  those  who  desire  to  be  the 
followers  of  Christ.  The  true  evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity are  the  public  evidences,  the  effect  upon 
history,  and  upon  the  world,  and  upon  the  lives 
of  men  in  our  own  time.  If  we  could  free  the 
Christian  religion  from  the  errors  which  have  en- 
crusted upon  it  in  the  course  of  ages  ;  if  we  could 
clear  it  of  those  charges  which  men  of  the  world 
are  constantly  bringing  against  it,  such  as  hostility 
to  knowledge  or  a  doubtful  regard  for  truth  where 
the  interests  of  religion  are  supposed  to  be  con- 
cerned; if,  when  religion  grew,  morality  increased 
in  an  equal  measure ;  and  the  most  fervent  Christians 
were  also  the  most  honest  and  upright  in  business, 
the  most  innocent,  the  most  friendly,  we  should  not 
need  treatises  on  evidence,  for  the  lives  of  Christian 
men  would  be  their  own  self-evidencing  light.  '  By 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.'  The  great  and 
real  source  of  doubt  in  which  all  lesser  doubts  seem 
to  be  swallowed  up  is  the  apathy  and  indifference 
of  Christian  men,  saying  one  thing  and  doing 
another ;  the  strange  union  or  contradiction  of 
individuals  equally  serious  in  their  vices  and  in  their 
religion ;  the  small  hold  which  the  life  of  Christ 
has  upon  the  Christian  world.  No  intellectual 
arguments  have  any  power  to  pacify  such  doubts ; 
the  only  answer  to  them  is  the  removal  of  the 
grounds  upon  which  they  rest.  The  true  internal 


172        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

evidence  of  Christianity  is  the  life  of  Christ  in  the 
soul ;  the  true  external  evidence,  the  progress  of 
religion  in  the  history  of  mankind.  The  difficulties 
of  Christianity  really  resolve  themselves  into  one 
difficulty,  the  weakness  and  insensibility  of  the 
human  heart.  (Unpublished.} 

The  Brotherhood  of  all  Mankind 

'  It  is  one  God  which  shall  justify  the  circumcision 
by  faith,  and  the  uncircumcision  through  faith ' 
(Rom.  iii.  30). — Let  us  turn  aside  for  a  moment 
to  consider  how  great  this  thought  was  in  that  age 
and  country ;  a  thought  which  the  wisest  of  men 
had  never  before  uttered,  which  at  the  present  hour 
we  imperfectly  realize,  which  is  still  leavening  the 
world,  and  shall  do  so  until  the  whole  is  leavened, 
and  the  differences  of  races,  of  nations,  of  castes, 
of  religions,  of  languages,  are  finally  done  away. 
Nothing  could  seem  a  less  natural  or  obvious  lesson 
in  the  then  state  of  the  world,  nothing  could  be 
more  at  variance  with  experience,  or  more  difficult 
to  carry  out  into  practice.  Even  to  us  it  is  hard 
to  imagine  that  the  islander  of  the  South  Seas,  the 
pariah  of  India,  the  African  in  his  worst  estate, 
is  equally  with  ourselves  God's  creature.  But  in  the 
age  of  St.  Paul  how  great  must  have  been  the 
difficulty  of  conceiving  barbarian  and  Scythian,  bond 
and  free,  all  colours,  forms,  races,  and  languages 
alike  and  equal  in  the  presence  of  God  who  made 
them  !  The  origin  of  the  human  race  was  veiled 
in  a  deeper  mystery  to  the  ancient  world,  and  the 
lines  which  separated  mankind  were  harder  and 
stronger ;  yet  the  '  love  of  Christ  constraining ' 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        173 

bound  together  in  its  cords,  those  most  separated 
by  time  or  distance,  those  who  were  the  types  of 
the  most  extreme  differences  of  which  the  human 
form  is  capable. 

The  idea  of  this  brotherhood  of  all  mankind,  the 
great  family  on  earth,  implies  that  all  men  have 
certain  ties  with  us,  and  certain  rights  at  our  hands. 
The  truest  way  in  which  we  can  regard  them  is  as 
they  appear  in  the  sight  of  God,  from  whom  they 
can  never  suffer  wrong ;  nor  from  us,  while  we 
think  of  them  as  His  creatures  equally  with  ourselves. 
There  is  yet  a  closer  bond  with  them  as  our  brethren 
in  the  Gospel.  No  one  can  interpose  impediments 
of  rank  or  fortune,  or  colour  or  religious  opinion, 
between  those  who  are  one  in  Christ.  Beyond  and 
above  such  transitory  differences  is  the  work  of 
Christ,  '  making  all  things  kin.'  Moreover,  the 
remembrance  of  this  brotherhood  is  a  rest  to  us 
when  our  '  light  is  low/  and  the  world  and  its 
distinctions  are  passing  from  our  sight,  and  our 
thoughts  are  of  the  dark  valley  and  the  solitary 
way.  For  it  leads  us  to  trust  in  God,  not  as 
selecting  us,  because  He  had  a  favour  unto  us,  but 
as  infinitely  just  to  all  mankind.  It  links  our 
fortunes  with  those  of  men  in  general,  and  gives 
us  the  same  support  in  reference  to  our  eternal 
destiny,  that  we  receive  from  each  other  in  a  narrow 
sphere  in  the  concerns  of  daily  life.  To  think  of 
ourselves,  or  our  Church,  or  our  country,  or  our  age, 
as  the  particular  exceptions  which  a  Divine  mercy 
makes,  whether  in  this  life  or  another,  is  not  a 
thought  of  comfort,  but  of  perplexity.  Lastly  : — It 
relieves  us  from  anxiety  about  the  condition  of  other 
men,  of  friends  departed,  of  those  ignorant  of  the 


174        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

Gospel,  of  those  of  a  different  form  of  faith  from 
our  own;  knowing  that  God  who  has  thus  far 
lifted  up  the  veil,  'will  justify  the  circumcision 
through  faith,  and  the  uncircumcision  by  faith ; ' 
the  Jew  who  fulfils  the  law,  and  the  Gentile  who 
does  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  i.  277-8.) 

The  Church  of  the  Future 

The  daylight  of  the  nineteenth  century  may  so 
shine  on  the  religion  of  Christ  that  every  unreal 
word,  every  untrue  fact,  every  uncharitable  and 
immoral  doctrine  shall  be  dissociated  from  the  words 
of  Christ.  The  seeming  assent  to  some  hundred 
disputed  propositions  may  no  longer  be  required  of 
the  ministers  of  religion.  And  as  men  are  now 
drawn  together  by  a  common  belief  in  the  essentials 
of  religion,  in  the  religion  of  almost  all  good  men, 
in  the  religion  of  almost  all  men  when  they  are 
approaching  death — so  there  may  also  be  a  somewhat 
greater  variety  in  outward  things,  suitable  to  different 
countries  or  classes  of  men,  or  to  differences  of 
individual  character.  The  changes  of  which  I  have 
spoken  may  very  possibly  come  to  pass  during  the 
lifetime  of  some  here  present.  The  Church  of 
England  may  be  disencumbered  of  some  old  tradi- 
tions which  weigh  upon  her;  may  become  wider, 
larger,  freer,  more  charitable,  more  tolerant,  more  in 
accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  age  :  and  yet  the  result 
may  be  altogether  disappointing  to  those  who  have 
sought  to  effect  it.  Just  as  there  are  individuals 
who  think  fairly  and  truly  on  most  subjects,  who 
are  not  fanatical  partisans,  and  have  a  correct  insight 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        175 

into  the  world,  and  conduct  themselves  with  civility 
and  moderation,  and  are  therefore  thought  to  do  little 
harm ;  but  they  do  as  little  good,  because  they  have 
no  fire  or  energy  in  them,  they  never  go  out  of  their 
way  to  remove  the  misery  or  vice  which  is  at  their 
doorsteps  :  so  it  may  be  with  Churches.  A  Church 
which  is  liberal  may  be  also  indifferent ;  and  having 
attained  the  form  of  truth,  may  have  lost  the  power 
of  it :  and  when  all  that  I  have  described  is  accom- 
plished, the  Church  which  has  accommodated  the 
character  of  its  belief  to  the  wants  of  another  age 
may  still  be  sapless,  lifeless,  spiritless.  It  may  be 
sunk  in  rationalism  and  indifferentism,  and  never  lift 
a  hand  for  the  improvement  of  mankind.  It  will 
be  free  from  many  drawbacks ;  will  it  continue  to 
have  any  mission  or  vocation  ?  Will  there  be  a 
religious  revival,  a  greater  sense  of  justice  and  truth, 
a  greater  care  of  the  poor,  a  greater  desire  to  elevate 
the  masses  corresponding  to  the  progress  of  enlighten- 
ment ?  We  can  only  conjecture  :  there  seem  to  be 
signs  that  men  are  feeling  more  strongly  than 
formerly  the  common  needs  of  humanity,  that  they 
are  more  deeply  sensible  of  their  duty  to  one  another  ; 
and  from  time  to  time  they  hear  strange  half-articu- 
late voices  speaking  within  them,  and  calling  them 
out  of  the  slums  of  vice  and  ignorance  to  acknow- 
ledge their  Father  and  our  Father,  and  their  God 
and  our  God.  The  mind  of  the  philosopher  often 
seems  to  yearn  for  something  more  than  he  knows, 
and  would  fain  receive  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as 
a  little  child.  Wherever  there  is  zeal  or  energy  for 
the  improvement  of  mankind,  there  is  an  element  of 
Christian  life.  Slowly  these  elements  may  again 
unite  on  the  basis  of  a  Christianity  truer  and  deeper 


176        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

than  that  which  has  satisfied  former  ages.  The 
Church  of  the  future  will  be  what  we  make  it :  we 
must  not  theorize,  we  must  live.  In  the  present  day 
we  may  easily  desert  the  form  of  belief  in  which  we 
have  been  brought  up,  but  shall  we  have  risen  to 
anything  higher  ?  Will  our  characters  become 
stronger  and  more  harmonious  ?  Will  our  lives  be 
purer,  holier,  better  ?  Shall  we  be  more  ready  to 
bear  the  cross  of  Christ  ?  Will  the  Church,  to  which 
we  belong,  be  made  by  our  efforts  a  more  loving  and 
faithful  communion,  more  truly  instinct  with  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  more  devoted  to  the  good  of  men  ? 
That  is  a  responsibility  which  presses  on  the  coming 
generation,  especially  on  those  of  us  who  feel  that 
old  things  are  passing  away,  and  that  we  must  help 
ourselves  and  other  men  to  a  new  life. 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons,  295—7.) 

Tests  of  Religious  Movements 

When  the  love  of  God  and  Christ  is  diffused  in 
the  soul  of  a  man,  he  finds  it  easier  to  get  above 
himself,  to  live  for  others,  to  conquer  his  merely 
animal  nature.  And,  though  there  may  be  a  good 
deal  of  illusion  accompanying  such  feelings,  of  which 
those  who  are  subject  to  them  should  be  aware,  yet, 
if  we  get  rid  of  the  illusion  and  fix  the  good,  they 
may  also  be  the  beginnings  of  a  higher  life  in  us, 
which  will  last  when  the  revival  has  passed  away. 
Such  a  movement  passed  over  the  Church  of  England 
in  the  first  thirty  years  of  this  century,  and  has  been 
succeeded,  as  you  know,  by  another  movement  of 
a  different  and  in  some  respects  opposite  character ; 
by  another  and  another  and  another.  We  who  are 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION         177 

now  living  can  hardly  judge  of  them  impartially, 
because  *we  are  under  the  influence  of  them  and  we 
cannot  know  their  future  consequences.  But  what 
will  posterity  say  of  them  ?  They  will  observe  that, 
like  other  religious  movements,  they  had  their  time 
of  growth  and  decline,  and  that  after  they  had  passed 
away  they  left  a  state  of  exhaustion  and  perhaps  of 
reaction.  The  same  cannot  repeat  itself  in  the  same 
form,  but  weaker  and  weaker.  They  would  remark, 
probably,  that  much  more  in  them  than  we  are  able 
to  detect  is  really  a  survival  of  the  past.  They  will 
judge  them  in  that  point  of  view  from  which  they 
are  least  likely  to  judge  of  themselves — by  a  political 
and  moral  standard.  Did  they  raise  the  tone  of 
society  ?  Did  they  increase  mutual  confidence  ? 
Did  they  diminish  drinking  ?  Did  they  find  the 
people  uneducated  and  leave  them  educated  ?  Was 
the  voice  of  their  supporters  lifted  up  in  the  cause 
of  justice  and  humanity,  when  no  party  interest 
seemed  to  be  at  stake  ?  Have  they  tended  after  all 
to  elevate  or  to  lower  the  moral  sentiments  of  man- 
kind, e.  g.  to  increase  the  love  of  truth  or  the  power 
of  superstition  and  self-deception  ?  Did  they  divide 
or  unite  the  world  ?  Did  they  leave  the  minds  of 
men  clearer  and  more  enlightened,  or  did  they  add 
another  element  of  confusion  to  the  chaos  ?  Did 
they,  seeing  the  difficulties  in  which  religious  belief 
is  temporarily  involved,  drive  men  back  from  reason 
and  history  to  take  refuge  in  the  emotions  ?  These 
are  the  principles  by  which  they  must  be  judged  at 
the  bar  of  history  and  before  the  judgement-seat  of 
God.  These  are  the  tests  which  we  must  apply 
to  them  and  to  our  own  lives  also.  No  final 
assurance  or  intensity  of  inward  conviction  can  take 
N 


1 78        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

the  place  of  them.  However  sure  we  may  be,  we 
cannot  be  sure  that  we  are  not  mistaken  unless  our 
faith  is  indissolubly  bound  up  with  truth  and  right 
and  the  well-being  of  mankind. 

(College  Sermons,  122-3.) 

Perversions  of  Religion 

The  change  from  religion  and  Divine  right  to  the 
greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number,  though 
very  real  and  important,  is  less  important  from  some 
points  of  view  than  it  appears.  The  best  men,  though 
they  have  different  theories  about  the  nature  of  human 
actions,  and  sometimes  entertain  the  greatest  dislike 
to  one  another,  yet  come  round  in  practice  to  the 
same  point.  When  the  question  is,  What  is  honest  ? 
What  is  pure?  What  is  true?  What  is  disinterested? 
though  the  effect  of  these  general  speculations  on 
the  human  mind  may  be  very  different,  they  will 
not  be  found  to  vary  in  the  answer.  For  where 
the  sense  of  duty  is,  religion  is  not  far  off.  When 
men  are  serving  their  fellows  they  are  serving  God 
also.  The  protests  against  the  introduction  of 
religion  into  politics  are  really  protests  against  the 
abuse  of  it.  When  religion  became  a  craft,  the 
most  subtle  of  all  crafts,  and  the  priest  stood  behind 
the  soldier,  when  men  saw  the  best,  i.  e.  the  most 
religious  of  men,  Bossuet  and  Massillon,  defending 
the  massacres  and  tortures  of  the  Huguenots,  can 
we  wonder  that  they  should  have  wished  to  banish 
a  religion  of  which  these  were  the  fruits  ?  Nor  can 
we  be  surprised  at  the  noblest  minds  revolting  from 
religion,  or  at  whole  countries  like  Italy  and  France 
falling  into  a  reaction  against  it,  and  not  even  now 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        179 

recovering  their  equilibrium.  But  when  we  consider 
how  deep  and  powerful  an  influence  religion  has 
exerted  in  all  ages  and  countries  we  can  hardly 
suppose  that  her  power  is  exhausted,  or  that  the 
aberration  of  human  nature  from  itself  is  destined 
to  be  permanent.  The  day  may  be  coming  when 
a  larger  idea  of  Christianity,  the  true  religion  of 
Christ,  may  win  back  the  hearts  of  those  who  have 
been  repelled  by  the  perversions  and  disfigurements 
of  it.  (Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  234—5.) 

The  Personal  Element  in  Religion 

*  Men  seem  to  find  it  easier  to  receive  the  Word 
of  God  from  a  person  than  from  books  and  treatises 
on  philosophy.  We  like  better  to  be  spoken  to 
than  to  be  read  to ;  and  the  Epistle  written  in  the 
lives  of  men  is  more  striking  than  the  Epistle  written 
with  pen  and  ink.  Let  us  take  the  case  of  the  poor, 
or  of  new  converts  in  a  strange  country.  The 
words  which  they  hear  are  inseparably  bound  up 
with  the  persons  by  whom  they  are  spoken.  The 
greatest  Christian  teachers  of  later  ages,  such  as 
Xavier  or  Schwartz,  claimed  nothing  for  themselves, 
and  yet  we  can  easily  see  that  they  embodied  to 
their  followers  the  truths  which  they  taught.  Their 
life,  their  manner,  their  look,  inspired  listening 
multitudes.  And  so  of  all  ministers  of  Christ  who 
are  worthy  of  the  name ;  they  must  not  only  teach 
certain  doctrines  to  their  congregations,  but  they 
must  be  like  Christ  in  this  also  that  they  impart 
themselves ;  there  must  be  something  in  them  con- 
sistent with  their  words,  yet  more  than  their  words, 
an  unseen  virtue  or  influence  which  goes  out  of 

N    2 


i8o        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

them,  the  influence  of  a  loving  heart  and  of  a  holy 
life  which  diffuses  itself  over  the  world. 

So  within  our  own  experience  we  seem  to  find 
a  parallel  to  the  language  of  the  New  Testament 
which  makes  belief  in  the  truth  equivalent  to  belief 
in  Christ,  and  knowledge  of  the  truth  equivalent  to 
the  knowledge  of  Christ.  I  may  add  one  more 
illustration.  The  ancient  philosophers,  too,  spoke  of 
a  wise  man  who  was  the  type  and  exemplar  of  all 
goodness,  about  whom  strange  paradoxes  were 
affirmed — that  he  was  a  king,  that  he  might  be 
happy  on  the  rack,  and  the  like.  This  was  their 
mode  of  describing  philosophy.  But  they  never 
supposed  that  Socrates  or  Chrysippus,  or  any  other 
great  teacher,  really  fulfilled  this  ideal.  They  did 
not  '  see  with  their  eyes '  or  '  touch  with  their 
hands  '  the  Word  of  Life.  Nevertheless  the  Greek 
ideal,  which  is  not  confined  to  the  Stoics,  but  is 
found  to  a  certain  extent  in  Aristotle  and  Plato, 
does  throw  a  distant  light  on  the  relation  of  Christ 
to  His  disciples  in  the  first  ages.  For  it  seems  to 
show  that  in  all  ages  mankind  have  been  seeking 
for  something  more  than  ideas ;  they  have  wanted 
to  have  a  person  like  themselves  in  whom  they 
might  see  truth  and  goodness  face  to  face.  As  in 
primitive  times  the  gods  were  believed  to  have 
taken  the  likeness  of  men,  they  desired  to  see  that 
higher  conception  of  a  Divine  nature  to  which  they 
had  attained  realized  to  them  in  the  form  of  man. 

(Unpublished.) 

The  Originality  of  Christianity 

*  The  deeper  thoughts  of  men's  hearts,  the  higher 
standard  of  absolute  moral  purity,  the  spiritual  life 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        181 

which  is  hidden  with  Christ  and  God,  the  law  of 
sacrifice  by  which  men  are  taught  that  they  should 
take  up  the  cross  in  the  service  of  their  brethren, 
the  blessedness  of  poverty,  the  hope  of  immortality 
— these  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of 
philosophers.  (Unpublished.') 

6  The  Phases  of  Faith ' 

The  author  of  The  Phases  of  Faith  was  one  who 
might  be  described  as  accidentally  a  freethinker,  but 
in  reality  a  follower  of  Christ;  or,  in  the  deeper 
and  also  more  familiar  language  of  the  Gospel,  as 
one  '  who  was  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven/ 
The  first  impression  given  by  the  book  is,  How 
good  and  simple  this  man  was !  and  yet  how  easily 
affected  by  all  the  influences  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived !  And  there  have  been  others  like  him  both 
in  this  and  the  last  generation — freethinkers  who 
have  in  their  nature  the  humility  and  self-devotion 
of  a  Catholic  saint — Catholics  who  could  never  lose 
the  sincere  love  of  every  form  of  truth.  It  is  a 
curious  reflection  also  that  such  persons  may  some- 
times have  crossed  each  other  in  the  path  of  life, 
and  by  some  reaction  of  nature  have  either  of  them 
ended  where  the  other  began. 

These  are  some  of  the  paradoxes  of  an  age  of 
transition,  such  as  the  last  half  century,  which  has 
had  such  curious  effects  on  the  relation  of  things 
secular  and  spiritual,  on  the  characters  and  opinions 
of  men.  The  next  generation  too  will  be  put  upon 
its  trial;  but  the  trial  will  be  of  a  different  kind. 
Many  questions  which  greatly  affected  us  will  to 
them  be  familiar  or  obsolete.  They  will  no  longer 


182        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

be  inquiring  into  the  origin  or  date  of  the  books 
of  Scripture,  or  discussing  the  evidence  of  miracles, 
or  seeking  to  reconcile  science  and  religion  or 
morality  and  theology.  Critical  and  historical  ques- 
tions will  have  been  settled  with  that  degree  of 
relative  certainty  which  is  attainable  in  such  subjects. 
The  relation  of  religion  to  science  will  have  solved 
itself,  and  will  be  no  longer  a  matter  of  dispute. 
An  historical  age  will  have  succeeded  to  a  contro- 
versial one.  Religious  life  will  no  longer  be  liable 
to  be  upset  by  small  earthquakes,  but  will  have  a 
wider  and  deeper  foundation.  Good  men  of  all 
parties  will  more  and  more  see  that  so  far  as  they 
had  the  spirit  of  God  at  all,  they  meant  the  same 
thing  far  more  than  they  supposed.  They  will  see 
that  other  religions  and  other  teachers  of  religion 
had  in  them  also  the  spirit  of  Christ ;  and  that 
these  anticipations  of  the  truth,  instead  of  impairing 
the  force  of  Christianity,  strengthen  and  extend  it ; 
as  Christ  also  Himself  seems  to  intimate  when  He 
says,  '  Many  shall  come  from  the  East  and  from 
the  West ; '  or  again,  '  And  other  sheep  I  have, 
which  are  not  of  this  fold.'  They  will  recognize 
that  what  has  been  sometimes  regarded  as  the 
triumph  of  antichrist  is  only  the  natural  consequence 
of  criticism  and  science,  which,  like  the  rising  of 
the  tide,  can  by  no  human  efforts  be  driven  back. 
(College  Sermons )  310—1.) 

A  New  Reformation 

These  are  a  few  of  the  signs  of  greater  harmony 
prevailing  the  world,  and  of  the  spirit  of  Christ 
being  more  diffused  among  men.  They  may  lead 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        183 

some  of  us  to  think  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history 
of  Christianity,  bearing  the  same  relation  to  the 
Christianity  of  the  three  last  centuries  which  the 
Reformation  did  to  the  ages  which  preceded. 

Whether  this  be  too  bold  a  speculation  or  not, 
we  may  be  assured  of  this,  that  there  never  will  be 
a  millennium  on  earth  until  we  make  one.  The 
kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observation,  is 
not  evident  by  a  sign  from  the  heavens,  or  special 
providences  vouchsafed  to  individuals,  is  not  seen  in 
the  union  of  churches,  or  in  the  declarations  of 
councils.  The  sun  will  rise  as  at  any  other  time ; 
the  seasons  will  come  and  go ;  the  generations  of 
men  will  be  born  and  die  as  in  every  other  period 
of  human  history.  The  difference  will  not  be  in 
the  external  appearance  of  nature,  but  in  the  renewal 
of  the  spirit  of  man.  Christ  will  appear  to  us  not 
in  the  extraordinary,  but  in  the  common,  in  the 
dwellings  of  the  poor,  in  the  daily  life  of  the  family, 
in  the  integrity  of  trade,  in  the  peace  of  nations. 
The  increase  of  justice  and  truth,  of  knowledge  and 
love,  the  diminution  of  suffering  and  disease,  of 
ignorance  and  crime,  the  living  for  others  and  not 
for  themselves,  to  do  the  will  of  God  more  and 
more,  and  not  their  own  will,  these  are  the  only 
real  signs  in  individuals  or  in  nations  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  has  come  among  them. 

(College  Sermons,  76—7.) 

The  Will  of  God  as  the  Law  of  Life 

Every  man,  or  almost  every  man,  has  in  him  a 
principle  of  right  and  truth  far  above  his  own  practice 
and  that  of  his  fellow  men  ;  but  few  of  us  make  this 
better  self  the  law  of  our  lives. 


184        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

He  who  will  not  allow  his  mind  to  be  lowered  to 
the  standard  of  those  around  him ;  who  retains  his 
sense  of  right  and  wrong  unimpaired  amid  all  temp- 
tation ;  who  asks  himself,  in  all  his  actions,  not 
what  men  will  say  of  him,  but  what  is  the  will  of 
God — he  may  be  truly  said  to  bear  in  his  life  and 
character  the  Divine  Image  for  our  example.  He 
may  be  some  one  who  has  sacrificed  his  earthly 
interests  for  the  love  of  truth ;  or  who,  with  the 
world  against  him,  has  been  compelled  by  a  natural 
nobility  of  disposition  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  alien 
and  oppressed ;  or  he  may  be  one  who,  not  knowing 
God,  has  sought  to  live  in  the  ideal,  that  is,  in 
His  Image,  above  the  commonplaces  of  the  world, 
whether  Christian  or  unchristian.  All  men  are 
telling  him,  '  This  is  politic,  this  is  expedient,  this 
is  what  your  party  requires,  this  is  what  the  Church 
or  the  world  approves,  this  is  the  way  to  honour 
and  preferment;  these  are  the  fashions  of  society, 
the  customs  of  traders,  the  demands  of  nature,  the 
received  opinions  of  men,  the  necessities  of  the 
situation.'  But  he  with  unaverted  eye  thinks  only 
of  the  good  and  true,  having  'a  faith  and  peace 
which  no  storm  can  shake  ' ;  and  in  all  his  life  sees, 
like  the  prophet,  the  vision  of  God  and  his  duty, 
high  and  lifted  up  above  the  mists  of  human  error 
and  the  dark  clouds  of  passion  and  prejudice,  'having 
the  body  of  heaven  in  his  clearness.' 

This  is  a  height  of  perfection  to  which  a  very 
few  attain,  and  which  will  seem  to  some  persons 
almost  to  have  passed  away  from  this  earth.  When 
our  will  is  lost  in  His  will,  and  our  thought  in  His 
thought,  and  no  earthly  wish  intrudes  or  offends, 
then,  indeed,  we  may  be  said  to  be  one  with  God, 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        185 

and  God  with  us.  And,  even  although  this  perfect 
image  of  God  can  hardly  be  formed  in  most  of  us, 
it  is  good  for  us  to  have  such  thoughts  when  receiv- 
ing the  Communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  at  our 
prayers,  and  at  other  times.  For  there  can  never  be 
any  danger  of  our  loving  God  too  much,  if  we  only 
think  of  Him  as  the  God  of  justice  and  truth  :  if 
we  seek  to  know  Him  first,  and  understand  that  all 
human  knowledge  is  a  manifestation  of  Him,  there 
can  be  no  fear  of  our  becoming  mystics. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine,  149-51.) 

Diminution  of  Differences  between 
the  Churches 

When,  applying  the  words  of  Christ  to  our  own 
times,  we  say,  'The  hour  is  coming,  and  now  is, 
when  there  shall  be  neither  Catholics  nor  Protestants, 
Churchmen  nor  Dissenters/  we  do  not  suppose  that 
these  well-known  names  will  cease  among  us,  or 
that  the  things  signified  by  them  will  altogether 
disappear.  But  they  may  become  unimportant  in 
comparison  with  the  great  truth  '  God  is  a  Spirit/ 
For  the  more  the  spiritual  character  of  religion  is 
understood,  the  more  external  differences  will  dis- 
appear. Can  we  think  of  a  good  man  as  other  than 
a  good  man  because  he  belongs  to  another  sect, 
because  he  does  not  believe  in  the  same  doctrines 
which  we  believe  in  ?  Hardly,  if  we  know  him ; 
but  ignorance  is  the  parent  of  dislike  and  estrange- 
ment. When  we  read  history  we  see  that  these 
differences  have  originated  in  feelings  which  we  no 
longer  share,  and  which  are  maintained  chiefly  by 
external  barriers.  And,  when  we  turn  from  the 


i86        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

ecclesiastical  history  of  our  own  country  and  of 
Europe  to  the  larger  book  of  the  religions  of  the 
world,  we  perceive  that  the  disputes  which  have 
occasioned  them  are  infinitely  small  in  comparison 
with  the  greater  interests  of  religion,  and  we  wonder 
how  the  human  mind  can  have  been  absorbed  by 
them.  Or  again,  when  we  look  out  on  c  the  heavens, 
the  work  of  Thy  hands,  the  moon  and  the  stars 
which  Thou  hast  ordained/  are  not  these  religious 
disputes  calmed  and  silenced  in  the  thought,  '  What 
is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ? '  And  when 
we  think  of  God  as  a  Spirit,  must  not  this  great 
truth  absorb  the  lesser  antagonisms  or  parties  which 
divide  us  ?  Just  as  in  politics  we  have  seen  towns 
or  districts  of  the  same  country  which  seemed  to 
bear  an  external  enmity  to  one  another,  the  heritage 
of  former  ages,  yet  contrary  to  all  expectations  have 
been  fused  or  moulded  into  a  single  nation  and 
become  instinct  with  a  common  life.  There  is 
Italy,  for  example,  and  Germany.  And  are  the 
divisions  of  churches  to  be  more  lasting  than  the 
divisions  of  nations  ? 

These  may  seem  to  be  unsettling  thoughts,  and 
I  ventured  to  speak  of  the  text  as  one  of  the  revolu- 
tionary sayings  of  Christ.  For  we  must  provide 
for  the  religion  of  the  next  generation  as  well  as 
of  this,  for  our  whole  lives  and  not  merely  for  the 
phase  of  opinion  which  prevails  at  the  present 
moment.  It  is  certainly  an  unsettling  thing  to  try 
to  live  in  another  world  as  well  as  this,  to  want  to 
fly  when  we  are  compelled  to  walk  upon  the  earth. 
Yet  most  of  the  good  which  has  been  accomplished 
among  men  is  due  to  aspirations  of  this  sort.  We 
may  be  in  the  world  and  not  of  it,  and  we  may 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        187 

be  in  the  Church  and  far  from  agreeing  in  the  temper 
and  spirit  of  many  Churchmen.  Difficulties  may 
surround  our  path  to  some  extent.  But,  if  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  ourselves,  these  may  generally  be 
overcome  by  common  prudence.  The  aspirations 
after  a  higher  state  of  life  than  that  in  which  we 
live  may  in  a  measure  fulfil  themselves.  We  may 
create  that  which  we  seek  after.  And  although 
there  will  always  remain  something  more  to  be  done, 
and  our  thoughts  will  easily  outrun  our  utmost 
exertions,  yet  we  may  find  in  such  thoughts  of  the 
changes  which  may  come  over  the  world  and  the 
Church  not  an  unquiet  or  disturbing  element  of  our 
lives  but  a  sense  of  repose ;  they  may  enable  us  to 
see  whither  we  are  going,  and  we  may  have  a  satis- 
faction in  contributing  to  the  work  which  God 
intended  us  to  do. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  187—9.) 

The  Church  of  England  as  it  is 

Shall  we  imagine  ourselves  ascending  in  thought 
to  the  top  of  some  hills  :  the  hills  near  London,  the 
Surrey  or  Berkshire  hills,  or  any  other  pleasant 
eminence  with  which  we  are  familiar,  and  survey 
the  wide  prospect  which  lies  beneath  ?  On  every 
side,  at  two  or  three  miles'  distance  from  one 
another,  we  see  churches  standing  out  in  the  plain 
or  peeping  through  the  trees ;  some  newly  built  of 
white  stone,  others  weather-beaten  by  the  storms 
of  ages  ;  some  of  which — perhaps  the  greater  num- 
ber— may  date  back  to  the  twelfth  century  or  even 
earlier,  others  in  the  latest  style  of  revived  Gothic 
architecture.  Around  them  the  '  rude  forefathers 


1 88        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

of  the  hamlet  sleep/  their  names  almost  lost  in  the 
grass  of  the  churchyard,  and  preserved  for  about 
a  century,  rarely  for  more.  Near  to  the  church  is 
the  house  of  the  clergyman,  generally  small  and 
unpretending,  yet  bearing  even  in  its  outward  aspect 
the  stamp  of  some  refinement  and  education.  If  we 
enter  the  church  we  find  in  most  parts  of  the  country 
that  it  has  been  newly  restored;  it  looks  like  a 
building  which  some  persons  loved,  and  in  which 
they  took  a  pride.  The  excrescences  which  have 
been  added  during  the  last  three  centuries  are  re- 
moved; the  stained  windows  are  beginning  to 
reappear;  the  invidious  distinctions  of  pews  no 
longer  mar  the  symmetry  of  the  building,  or  inter- 
fere with  the  amity  of  the  congregation.  When  we 
have  looked  around  us,  and  have  seen  the  inside 
as  well  as  the  outside  of  some  of  the  churches 
which  lie  in  the  surrounding  country,  let  us  re- 
member that  there  is  nothing  like  this  to  be  seen 
except  in  a  Christian  land,  and  nothing  in  every 
respect  comparable  except  in  England. 

Or  let  us  go  into  the  monotonous  and  dingy 
streets  of  one  of  our  great  manufacturing  towns,  in 
which  the  rows  of  factory  buildings  and  their 
chimneys  tower  above  the  lowly  dwellings  of  the 
working-man.  In  those  hives  of  industry  there  is 
not  much  upon  which  the  eye  can  rest  with  pleasure. 
They  cannot  be  described  as  '  fair  places  which  are 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth ';  they  are  full  of  noise 
and  smoke  and  steam.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  them 
the  old  abbey,  or  the  parish  church,  or  the  newly- 
built  spire  still  preserves  the  recollection  of  a  higher 
interest.  They  are  probably  the  objects  to  which 
the  stranger  most  naturally  turns  for  relief.  They 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        189 

seem  to  say  that  in  the  world  of  money-making 
there  are  some  persons  whose  relation  to  their 
fellow  men  is  not  of  a  purely  commercial  or  material 
kind;  who  endure  a  comparatively  hard  lot  in  life 
for  the  good  of  others  ;  who  are  educated  themselves, 
and  devote  their  lives  to  the  education  of  the  poor 
and  their  children ;  who  are  their  best  friends  in 
sorrow  and  suffering,  and  who  do  not  forsake  them 
in  death. 

The  churches  which  we  see  in  town  or  country 
are  the  symbols  of  that  great  organization  which  is 
spread  throughout  the  country  for  the  promotion  of 
morality  and  religion.  We  must  not  expect  that  all 
its  ministers  will  be  wise,  or  learned,  or  holy :  they 
are  men  like  ourselves,  raised  somewhat  above  the 
standard  of  their  fellows  by  their  clerical  profession. 
The  clergyman's  life  is  the  standard  and  example  of 
good  manners,  as  well  as  morals,  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  district.  More  or  less,  as  a  fact,  he  does  care 
for  the  welfare  of  his  neighbours  :  the  oppressed  can 
go  to  him  with  their  tale ;  the  friendless  can  claim 
his  aid,  and  often  be  set  in  the  way  of  making 
a  honest  livelihood.  In  the  country  he  is  the  poor 
squire  or  gentleman,  who  shows  how  a  house  may 
be  refined  without  luxury ;  how  on  slender  means 
a  family  may  be  educated  and  brought  up  (not  with- 
out effort)  in  their  own  condition  of  life.  In  the 
town  he  is  busily  occupied  fighting  a  battle  against 
vice  and  immorality,  building  schools,  forming 
societies,  striving  to  improve  the  dwellings  of  the 
poor,  or  to  erect  the  additional  church  which  is  so 
much  needed ;  speaking  to  men  week  by  week  about 
temperance,  honesty,  and  judgement  to  come. 

So  I  have  endeavoured  to  set  before  you  without 


1 90        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

exaggeration  the  Church  of  England  as  it  is.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  clergy  are  prejudiced ;  and 
so  they  are — and  so  are  all  men  who  are  bound 
together  by  any  corporate  or  party  tie :  as  I  said 
before,  we  must  not  expect  to  find  in  large  bodies 
of  men  the  standard  of  freedom  or  of  intelligence 
which  is  attainable  by  a  few  individuals.  Then, 
again,  their  sermons  are  criticized ;  they  often  seem 
to  be  too  far  removed  from  ordinary  life,  and  to 
make  little  or  no  impression  on  the  hearer.  But 
the  fault  is  partly  in  ourselves  for  listening  to  them 
with  rebellious  ears,  and  for  expecting  in  the  many 
the  rare  gifts  which  are  found  only  in  the  few. 
Do  we  consider  what  would  be  the  effect  of  having 
no  word  of  moral  and  religious  teaching  over  the 
whole  country  from  one  year  to  the  other — especially 
among  the  poor,  who  are  so  dependent  on  the  half- 
understood  words  of  their  clergyman  for  any  spiritual 
or  intellectual  life  ?  Again,  it  will  be  said  that 
many  clergymen  are  slothful  and  ignorant,  and 
seekers  after  preferment — so  are  individuals  in  all 
classes.  And  yet  admitting  these  and  many  other 
defects  to  be  truly  charged  against  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England  —  that  is,  against  ourselves : 
without  boasting  and  self-glorification  we  may  be 
thankful  to  God  who  has  preserved  us  this  ancient 
house  of  our  fathers,  with  all  its  faults  the  best  and 
most  tolerant  of  the  Churches  of  Christendom,  and 
the  least  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons,  289-92.) 

Individual  Life  and  Institutions 

The  truth   is  that  men  are  apt  to   look  (l)  in 
edifices  of  wood  and  stone,  (2)  in  great  and  ancient 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        191 

institutions,  for  that  perfection  which,  if  it  can  be 
found  at  all  on  earth,  is  to  be  sought  in  the  lives 
of  individuals.  The  true  temple  of  God  is  the 
heart  of  man,  and  there  the  image  of  Christ  may  be 
renewed  again  and  again,  and  effaced  again  and 
again.  Neither  is  there  any  limit  to  the  perfection 
which  is  attainable  by  any  one  of  us,  for  Christ 
says  :  '  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect.'  But  there  is  a  limit 
to  the  perfection  of  outward  institutions.  These 
seem  to  be  at  their  best  when  the  goodness  or 
genius  of  some  one  or  two  men  has  inspired  them  : 
the  monastic  orders,  when  reformed  by  such  a  man 
as  St.  Bernard;  the  mediaeval  Church,  when 
governed  by  such  great  prelates  as  Anselm  or 
Grosteste.  All  institutions  flourish  when  they  are 
ordered  by  men  who  have  great  aims,  who  under- 
stand their  true  character ;  and  know  how  to  derive 
a  strength  from  them,  and  to  impart  a  strength  of 
their  own  to  them.  They  are  not  mere  abstractions, 
but  communities  of  living  beings ;  and  a  common 
spirit  or  soul  animates  them.  And  sometimes  they 
fall  into  corruption  and  decay;  their  schools  and 
churches  are  unroofed,  their  very  stones  are  carted 
away,  and  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  the  place 
where  they  once  stood.  And  sometimes  they 
remain  vacant,  tenantless,  to  another  generation ; 
unmeaning,  but  waiting  for  some  one  to  take  posses- 
sion of  them.  The  building  which  once  resounded 
with  the  voice  of  the  choir  may  be  turned  to  some 
other,  secular,  use,  as  has  often  been  the  case  on 
the  continent  of  Europe ;  or,  as  in  our  own  country, 
a  new  and  reformed  Christianity  may  take  up  its 
abode  in  them,  while  we  regret  that  so  many  of 


192        THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION 

them  have  been  destroyed  by  the  zeal   or  by  the 
neglect  of  our  fathers. 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons,  285—6.) 

The  Invisible  Church 

Yet  higher  and  more  ideal  than  any  outward  or 
visible  Church  is  the  invisible,  of  which  our  con- 
ception is  more  abstract  and  distant,  and  therefore 
more  vacant  and  shadowy.  It  is  described  in  the 
words  of  the  Bidding  Prayer  as  'the  congregation 
of  faithful  men  dispersed  throughout  the  world.' 
But  who  they  are  no  eye  of  man  can  discern !  For 
the  wheat  and  the  tares  grow  together  in  this  world, 
and  many  are  called  but  few  are  chosen,  and  many 
are  hearers  but  not  doers  of  the  word,  and  the  first 
shall  be  last  and  the  last  first ;  and  there  are  other 
sheep  not  of  this  fold,  and  there  are  those  who  have 
not  seen  and  yet  have  believed.  There  are  nominal 
Christians  who  are  in  no  sense  real  Christians ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  distant  lands  there  are 
those  to  whom  Christ  in  His  individual  person  was 
never  known,  who,  nevertheless,  have  had  the  temper 
of  Christ,  and  in  a  way  of  their  own  have  followed 
Him  :  all  these  are  included  in  the  invisible  Church. 
It  is  a  great  fellowship  of  those  who  have  lived  for 
others  and  not  for  themselves,  for  the  truth  and  not 
for  the  opinion  of  men  only,  above  the  world  and 
not  merely  in  it.  It  is  a  communion  of  souls  and  of 
good  men  everywhere  and  in  all  ages,  who,  if  they 
could  have  known  one  another  and  the  Lord,  would 
have  acknowledged  that  they  were  animated  with 
a  common  spirit,  and  would  have  loved  and  delighted 
in  one  another.  And  we,  too,  feel  that  in  the 


THE  FUTURE  OF  RELIGION        193 

thought  of  this  there  is  comfort  and  strength ;  we 
rejoice  in  the  consciousness  that  here  in  this  con- 
gregation, and  everywhere  to  the  furthest  limits  of 
the  world,  there  are  those  who  stand  in  the  same 
relation  towards  God  which,  as  we  hope,  it  may  be 
granted  to  us  to  attain;  and  that,  as  many  have 
gone  before,  many  are  coming  after  to  work  out 
His  will  in  this  life  and  in  another. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine.,  35~6.) 

Looking  Forward 

Of  the  future  we  hardly  know  anything  else,  but 
that  it  will  be  unlike  the  present.  We  ourselves 
shall  change  with  it ;  if  any  one  here  is  living  half 
a  century  hence  it  will  be  in  a  changed  world. 
How  changed  that  inner  world  of  thoughts  and 
feelings,  when  at  the  best  resignation  will  have 
taken  the  place  of  life  and  hope,  and  the  scene  in 
which  he  lives  be  folding  up  before  him  like  a 
vesture,  and  whether  in  hope  or  faith  or  despair  he 
will  himself  begin  to  feel  that  he  has  nothing  more 
to  do  with  these  things.  And  how  all  his  family 
relations  may  have  changed,  I  need  hardly  mention, 
and  how  the  course  of  the  great  world  itself,  with 
its  struggles  for  empire,  and  prejudices  and  passions 
may  have  changed,  in  which  each  one  here  present 
is  as  nothing  and  insignificant,  I  may  say,  except  in 
the  sight  of  God  only.  Of  what  we  ourselves 
shall  be  fifty  years  hence  we  can  scarcely  form 
a  more  distinct  idea  than  of  what  another  will  be, 
so  dimly  can  we  see  through  the  clouds  which 
cover  us.  (College  Sermons,  3.) 


IX 
RELIGIOUS    PERSONALITIES 

Death  as  the  Revealer  of  a  Man's  Life 

THE  light  of  death  gives  us  a  true  conception  of 
many  things  which  we  are  unable  to  attain  at  other 
times.  It  takes  us  out  of  conventions,  prejudices, 
enmities  ;  it  lifts  us  into  a  higher  region.  It  makes 
us  see  our  friends  and  ourselves  more  truly.  The 
bitterness  of  party  spirit  is  hushed  over  the  grave. 
We  can  hardly  imagine  how  we  ever  came  to  enter- 
tain a  feeling  of  jealousy  or  dislike  towards  one  who 
is  gone.  We  may  regret  that  we  did  not  understand 
or  appreciate  him  better;  or  that  through  some  fancy 
or  pride  we  did  not  do  more  for  him,  or  see  more 
of  him — that  we  were  too  much  estranged  from  him 
by  distance  or  by  indolence.  There  were  so  many 
things  which  we  should  like  to  have  said  to  him ; 
so  much  about  which  we  should  have  liked  to  hear 
him  speak.  But  the  time  for  speaking  is  past ;  he 
can  speak  to  us  now  only  by  his  example.  There 
may  be  some  forgiveness,  too,  which  we  should 
have  wished  to  ask.  Well,  our  minds  may  be  at 
rest  about  that;  for  it  was  granted  before  it  was 
asked.  We  seem  certainly  to  know  him  now  as 
we  never  knew  him  before,  and  to  value  him  more 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        195 

dearly.  The  circumstances  of  his  life  return  upon 
us — the  first  time  when  we  made  his  acquaintance ; 
how  he  looked  upon  some  memorable  occasion ;  the 
remarkable  things  which  he  said ;  his  disinterested 
actions,  and  the  like — and  we  supplement  our  re- 
collections by  those  of  others,  and  are  perhaps 
surprised  to  find  that  he  said  things  to  them  which 
he  did  not  say  to  us,  and  that  though  we  were 
intimate  friends,  yet  that  there  was  a  side  of  his 
character  which  he  never  showed  to  us.  For  men 
are  drawn  out  differently  by  different  persons :  we 
speak  on  one  subject  to  one,  on  another  to  another ; 
we  look  to  one  for  sympathy,  and  to  another  for 
light  and  strength,  so  that  the  whole  character  of 
any  man  is  hardly  ever  known  to  any  single  ac- 
quaintance. Some  portion  remains  a  mystery  even 
to  his  dearest  friend. 

(Biographical  Sermons ',  2 1  o- 1 . ) 

The  Teacher  and  his  Disciples 

The  memories  which  have  lasted  longest  in  this 
world  are  those  of  men  who  have  imparted,  whether 
by  speaking  or  writing,  new  ideas  to  mankind,  or 
who  have  founded  new  institutions :  and  these  two 
are  the  complement  of  each  other.  The  spoken 
word  is  but  an  animating  breath  which  passes  away 
and  is  gone ;  the  written  word  too  is  fleeting,  and 
requires  to  be  embodied  in  a  system  and  to  have 
a  place  assigned  to  it  in  human  thought.  And  how 
can  the  teacher  diffuse  his  new  ideas  unless  he  gather 
around  him  a  band  of  disciples  ?  and  how  can  the 
disciples  continue  after  he  is  withdrawn  from  them, 
unless  they  have  a  local  habitation  and  are  formed 

O    2 


196        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

into  a  society  ?  There  is  the  life  of  Christ  and  the 
Christian  Church,  and  in  these  two  all  Christianity 
and  all  theology  is  contained.  They  are  the  most 
general  and  also  the  most  scientific  divisions  of  the 
subject  which  can  be  framed.  They  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  very  types  of  Christian  and  of  other 
societies.  There  is  the  life  of  the  man  within  and 
without  the  system,  the  school,  the  college,  the 
institution,  the  building  which  he  has  created  for 
himself.  The  one  may  be  called  in  a  figure,  the 
house  made  with  hands,  the  other  the  house  not 
made  with  hands.  And  we  find  by  experience  that 
the  outer  investiture  or  environment  never  exactly 
expresses  the  inner  life  or  idea ;  it  limits,  it  cramps, 
it  perverts  it;  it  sometimes  even  turns  it  into  its 
opposite.  Such  has  been  the  history  of  all  churches, 
of  all  monastic  orders,  of  all  schools  and  colleges 
at  some  time  in  their  existence.  They  have  begun 
in  poverty,  they  have  ended  in  wealth ;  they  have 
begun  in  industry,  they  have  ended  in  sloth;  they 
have  begun  in  love,  they  have  degenerated  into  hate  ; 
they  have  begun  with  the  intention  of  promoting 
religion  and  education,  and  they  have  ended  by 
being  an  incubus  on  them.  They  have  been  adapted 
to  the  age  which  gave  them  birth ;  they  have  con- 
tinued when  they  were  only  doing  harm.  And 
then  if  the  idea  of  their  founders  was  true  and  pure, 
we  can  sometimes  appeal  from  their  works  to  them : 
and  breathe  a  new  life  from  time  to  time  into  the 
institutions  which  are  called  by  their  names.  When 
wearied  with  superstitious  rites  and  ceremonies,  we 
can  return  to  the  simple  teaching  of  Christ,  from 
the  Church  to  the  Gospel.  And  there  have  been 
other  great  teachers  (though  we  do  not  place  them 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        197 

on  a  level  with  Him),  who  have  been  better  than 
their  followers,  to  whose  life  and  works  posterity 
may  appeal  against  the  traditions  and  practices  which 
have  grown  up  under  their  authority. 

(Biographical  Sermons,  21—2.) 

Loyola  and  his  Followers 

When  Ignatius  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age, 
burnt  up,  as  his  biographer  describes,  with  the  desire 
of  seeing  God  and  being  with  Christ,  left  the  care  of 
earthly  things,  he  could  point  to  seventeen  provinces 
administered  by  him,  to  104  colleges  established  in 
his  lifetime,  to  the  face  of  Europe  changed  by  him. 
No  thought  of  this  earthly  greatness  appears  for  a 
moment  to  have  touched  him  at  any  time  in  his  life. 
But  if  he  could  have  extended  his  vision  rather 
more  than  two  centuries,  and  have  seen  the  result 
of  which  I  have  been  just  speaking,  would  he  have 
acknowledged  that  there  was  some  fatal  flaw  in  the 
original  idea  which  had  given  birth  to  these  vast 
institutions  ?  Or  would  he  simply  have  regarded 
the  ruin  of  his  followers  as  an  evil  which  God  had 
permitted,  perhaps,  for  his  and  their  sins,  and  have 
looked  forward  to  a  time,  never  to  arrive,  in  which 
they  should  be  reinstated  among  the  great  cities  of 
Europe,  with  still  greater  power  and  glory  than 
before  ? 

In  the  silence  of  the  grave  there  is  no  answer  to 
this  question.  But  we  may  still  ask  it  for  our  own 
instruction,  and  obtain  such  answer  as  we  can.  In 
what  lay  the  power  and  where  was  the  flaw  of  this 
great  system  ?  We  may  consider  this  question  first 
in  reference  to  the  means  employed :  secondly  as  to 


198        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

the  principle  or  end  which  Ignatius  and  his  followers 
proposed  to  themselves. 

And  first  as  to  the  means  employed.  Willing  to 
devote  themselves  wholly  to  the  service  of  God  and 
of  the  Order,  the  Jesuits,  under  the  guidance  of 
Ignatius,  were  taught  to  make  of  themselves  instru- 
ments perfectly  adapted  to  the  work.  They  were 
to  let  those  qualities  grow  in  them  which  made  them 
good  members  of  the  Order,  and  to  eradicate  those 
which  had  the  opposite  tendency.  No  teachers  ever 
impressed  on  themselves  and  others  the  lesson  of 
self-control  like  the  first  Jesuits.  They  seem  first 
of  all  men  to  have  made  a  study  of  the  human  mind 
with  a  view  to  education.  Man  was  not  to  live 
by  fasting  alone,  but  by  action,  by  obedience,  by 
bringing  every  thought  and  word  into  harmony  with 
one  aim.  He  was  to  pass  his  days  in  meditation 
according  to  a  prescribed  course,  but  his  meditations 
were  to  bring  forth  fruits  day  by  day.  He  was  to 
combat  his  faults,  not  altogether  but  one  by  one  ; 
to  fight,  not  against  some  general  conception  of  sin, 
but  against  definite  recurring  sins  which  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  committing.  He  was  to  bring  before 
his  mind  all  the  associations  of  sense  which  could 
assist  him  in  mounting  upward.  In  the  little  book 
called  Spiritual  Exercises,  which  Ignatius  partly  wrote 
and  partly  compiled  for  the  use  of  his  disciples,  he 
is  inexhaustible.  The  exercises  are  framed  so  as  to 
employ  four  weeks,  and  every  day  at  the  commence- 
ment of  them  the  novice  is  desired  to  place  himself 
in  the  midst  of  some  sacred  scene,  such  as  the  house 
in  which  Christ  lived,  or  the  village  through  which 
He  passed,  the  temple  in  which  He  preached,  the 
garden  in  which  His  agony  was  accomplished.  On 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        199 

another  day  the  mind  is  to  transport  itself  into  the 
highest  heaven  and  to  behold  the  Three  Persons 
sitting  in  council ;  beneath  them  is  lying  the  whole 
earth,  with  its  peoples,  black,  white,  in  war  and  at 
peace,  laughing,  weeping,  living,  dying,  in  sickness 
or  health,  or  some  other  condition  of  being.  Or  the 
believer  is  to  envisage  to  himself  the  two  camps  of 
Jerusalem  and  Babylon,  and  mankind  ranged  under 
the  two  banners  of  Lucifer  and  Christ.  These  are 
to  be  the  environments  of  his  thoughts — called  by 
Ignatius  praeludia — and  they  are  to  be  accompanied 
by  one  distinct  motive  such  as  hope,  fear,  love, 
which  is  to  occupy  the  whole  exercise.  The  mode 
of  humility,  for  example,  is  as  follows  : — First,  the 
disciple  is  to  offer  himself  to  God  in  all  his  actions ; 
secondly,  he  is  to  place  before  himself  the  goods  and 
ills  of  life,  and  pray  that  he  may  never  in  seeking 
the  one  or  avoiding  the  other  fall  from  his  resolution. 
Once  more  he  is  to  place  before  himself  the  goods 
and  ills  of  life,  and  deliberately  to  choose  the  latter. 
We  see  how  such  a  discipline  was  designed  to  bow 
the  whole  spirit  and  mind  of  a  man  into  obedience 
to  the  supposed  will  of  God  or  his  fellow  men.  We 
see  how  from  being  a  natural  he  would  become  an 
artificial  man,  how  he  would  lose  the  moral  in  the 
religious  sense,  how  instead  of  walking  and  standing, 
he  would  crawl  and  wind  in  and  out  of  impossible 
places.  The  Jesuits  were  not  wrong  in  seeking  to 
understand  human  nature  before  they  acted  upon  it ; 
or  in  their  efforts  after  self-improvement  which  were 
based  on  a  sort  of  scientific  principle.  The  gentler 
methods  which  they  introduced  into  education  have 
been  of  great  value  to  the  world.  But  they  were 
wrong  in  attempting  to  destroy  independence,  to 


200        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

stamp  out  character,  to  extinguish  life.  They  did 
not  see  that  a  human  creature,  to  whom  God  had 
given  reason,  could  not  be  '  perinde  ac  cadaver '  in 
the  hands  of  his  superiors  without  sinking  below  the 
level  of  humanity.  Their  means  were  to  a  certain 
extent  good,  and  may  be  studied  by  us  with  advantage. 
But  they  were  carried  too  far  ;  and  their  discipline 
became  a  death  not  only  to  the  intellectual  but  to  the 
moral  nature  of  man. 

Yet  before  we  part  from  the  first  founders  of  the 
Company  of  Jesus,  while  tracing  the  fatal  con- 
sequences of  their  mission,  we  must  acknowledge 
that  there  are  no  men  now  living  in  any  branch 
of  the  Christian  Church  so  devoted  as  they  were  to 
a  great  religious  work,  so  careless  of  self  and  of  their 
own  lives,  so  regardless  of  the  bubble  reputation  or 
of  the  more  solid  advantages  of  great  preferments. 
If  we  think  of  them  as  engaged  in  doubtful  con- 
spiracies against  the  lives  and  governments  of 
Protestant  princes,  we  must  also  think  of  them  as 
dying  of  hunger  and  thirst  among  the  Indians, 
unknown  men,  cheered  only  by  the  thought  of 
Christ  and  the  love  of  God  in  the  wilderness  of  this 
world.  A  great  deal  too  we  may  learn  from  their 
methods.  We  cannot  say  that  men  should  not  fix 
their  minds  on  high  aims  (never  was  the  world  or 
this  country  more  in  need  of  such) ;  or  that  they 
should  not,  instead  of  resting  in  vague  ideas,  seek 
to  reduce  their  aims  at  once  to  practice  ;  or  that 
they  will  not  find  in  prayer  and  devotion  a  powerful 
stimulus  and  support  to  them  amid  the  difficulties  of 
their  task  ;  or  that  in  learning  to  pray  and  hold  com- 
munion with  the  unseen  we  should  take  no  account 
of  the  laws  of  the  human  mind.  Nor  can  we  say 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        201 

that  the  Jesuit  Fathers  were  intentionally  corruptors 
of  morality.  They  sought  rather  to  bring  back  in 
the  courts  of  Popes  and  Princes  an  impossible  strict- 
ness :  by  the  help  of  casuistry  they  made  a  com- 
promise with  human  nature,  and  so  the  letter  got  the 
better  of  the  spirit,  the  means  of  the  end. 

And  this  leads  me  in  conclusion  to  speak  of  the 
great  error  of  Jesuitism  as  conceived  by  its  founder, 
an  error  which,  though  not  on  that  grand  scale  or 
attended  with  such  terrible  and  far-reaching  conse- 
quences, has  to  be  guarded  against  by  every  Christian 
teacher  in  our  own  as  well  as  in  other  ages.  It  is 
the  separation  of  religion  from  morality  and  truth. 
There  is  no  trace  in  any  Jesuit  author  of  the  love 
of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  though  some  of  them  are 
brought  round  by  the  windings  of  dialectics  to  admit 
the  Protestant  doctrine  of  freedom  of  conscience. 
And  this,  perhaps,  is  the  explanation  in  part  of  the 
phenomenon  which  I  have  already  noticed  that,  able 
and  educated  as  they  were,  not  one  of  them  ever 
rose  to  any  great  distinction  in  literature.  They 
never  thought  of  God  as  the  God  of  truth,  but  only 
as  the  God  of  the  Church,  who  had  entrusted  to 
them  the  tradition  of  the  Church.  Truth,  or  the 
pretence  of  truth,  was  to  them  only  a  means  by 
which  they  sought  to  govern  mankind  in  the  interests 
of  Catholicism,  which  they  believed  also  to  be  those 
of  Europe  and  of  the  human  race. 

(Biographical  Sermons ,  34-9.) 

Pascal's  Theory  and  Practice  of  Religion 

We  must  acknowledge  that  both  his  [Pascal's] 
theory  and  practice  of  religion  have  a  taint  of 


202        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

exaggeration,  and  that  his  passionate  love  of  truth, 
though  never  losing  sight  of  an  ethical  principle, 
is  limited  by  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  We  do 
not  take  him  as  a  guide  either  in  philosophy  or  in 
theology.  We  do  not  think  of  his  opinions  so 
much  as  of  himself.  For  his  was  one  of  those 
illuminating  lives  which  cast  a  radiance  far  and 
wide  over  the  path  of  humanity.  It  is  the  clearness 
and  penetration  of  his  intellect,  not  the  consecutive- 
ness  or  consistency  of  his  system,  that  we  admire 
and  seek  to  imitate.  No  man  ever  freed  himself 
more  completely  from  the  conventionalities  of  religion. 
No  man  ever  combined  such  strong  and  simple  faith 
with  such  a  profound  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
No  man  ever  suffered  and  at  the  same  time  did  so 
much.  In  no  one  were  such  intellectual  gifts 
united  with  such  moral  graces.  The  literary  man 
in  modern  times  has  been  too  often  jealous  and 
sensitive ;  he  has  despised  and  hated  his  fellow 
men,  with  the  exception  of  that  section  of  them 
who  worshipped  at  his  shrine ;  he  has  claimed 
a  kind  of  superiority  to  moral  laws ;  strong  in 
words,  but  weak  and  egotistical  in  character,  he  has 
drawn  after  him  followers,  who  in  his  weakness 
have  found  the  expression  of  their  own.  There 
have  even  been  good  men  who  have  never  been 
able  to  get  rid  of  vanity  and  conceit.  What  a 
contrast  to  them  is  presented  by  this  man,  of  whose 
life  self-control  is  the  law  ;  who  is  utterly  indifferent 
to  literary  fame ;  who  writes  only  as  a  duty  which 
he  owes  to  God  and  to  his  fellow  creatures  !  Again, 
in  this  world  of  selfishness  and  self-seeking,  in 
which  most  of  us  place  before  ourselves  wealth  or 
honour,  or  high  position  in  the  State,  or  preferment 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        203 

in  the  Church,  as  one  of  the  strongest,  if  not  the 
only  motive  by  which  life  is  to  be  actuated,  how 
great  a  thing  it  is  to  have  one  man  recalling  us  to 
the  image  of  Christ,  to  simplicity,  to  disinterested- 
ness, to  truth,  which  we  might  all  follow  if  we 
would!  Or,  in  this  strife  about  classes,  which 
seems  so  threatening  in  our  own  day,  is  it  not 
striking  to  turn  to  the  example  of  one  in  whom  the 
feeling  of  caste  or  of  class  was  altogether  dead  ; 
who,  like  Christ,  neither  assailing  nor  yet  defending 
the  rights  of  property,  identified  himself  altogether 
with  the  poor,  whose  sufferings  quickened  in  him, 
not  the  sense  of  his  own  misery,  but  of  the  misery 
of  others ;  in  whom  what  he  calls  the  '  moi '  of 
humanity  is  annihilated  and  lost  in  the  thought 
of  God  and  his  fellow  men  ?  Or,  again,  when  we 
think  of  professing  Christians  hardly  ever  realizing 
the  words  which  they  use,  ready  almost  to  fight 
about  doctrines  which  have  ceased  to  have  any 
meaning  to  them,  how  singular  it  is  to  meet  with 
a  man  whose  language  is  the  very  expression  of  the 
thought  in  which  he  daily  lived.  He,  like  any 
other  man,  may  be  criticized :  you  may  point  out, 
as  I  have  been  doing  to-day,  the  inequality  of  his 
genius,  or  the  fragmentary  character  of  his  writings. 
Tried  by  the  standard  of  metaphysics  or  of  political 
philosophy,  he  may  fall  short  of  the  requirements 
of  system-makers.  Yet  among  the  sons  of  men 
you  will  hardly  find  one  who  had  a  greater  insight 
into  man  and  nature,  in  whom  faith  and  life  were 
more  completely  one,  or  who  more  truly  bore  the 
likeness  of  Christ. 

(Biographical  Sermons,  105—7.) 


204        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

The  Spirit  of  Religious  Leaders 

It  seems  to  me  that  before  we  can  understand  such 
characters,  or  do  them  any  justice,  or  gather  any  lesson 
from  them,  we  must  learn  to  separate  the  essential 
from  the  accidental  in  them.  Their  use  of  Scripture, 
their  technical  theology,  their  visions  and  revelations, 
belong  for  the  most  part  to  their  age  and  country, 
or  to  their  early  bringing  up.  But  that  which  is 
essential,  or  (if  I  may  use  the  expression)  eternal, 
in  them,  that  which  is  to  be  found  in  Catholic,  as 
well  as  Puritan,  in  St.  Theresa,  Madame  Guion,  or 
St.  Francis  Xavier,  as  well  as  in  John  Bunyan  and 
George  Fox,  is  their  absolute  devotion  to  the  will 
of  God  :  their  entire  single-minded  ness,  their  perfect 
disinterestedness,  their  willingness  to  spend  and  be 
spent  in  their  Master's  service,  which  will  make 
many  in  the  present  day  ready  to  cry  out,  '  Oh,  for 
a  spirit  like  theirs  !  '  I  am  not  saying  that  any 
of  them  supply  the  perfect  type  of  the  Christian 
character,  but  they  supply  elements  which  are  greatly 
wanting  among  us.  For,  in  the  present  day,  when 
so  many  comparisons  are  made  of  things  that  were 
formerly  separated,  now  that  Protestants  are  beginning 
to  think  more  kindly  of  Catholics,  and  Catholics  of 
Protestants,  and  the  different  religions  of  men  are 
beginning  to  know  one  another,  and  to  recognize 
the  common  human  element  as  well  as  the  higher 
purpose  of  them,  it  seems  to  be  of  great  importance 
that  we  should  bring  together  good  and  truth  in  all 
things,  not  limited  only  by  our  own  narrow  circle. 
If,  instead  of  reverting  to  the  follies  of  the  past,  we 
could  really  extract  the  wisdom  of  the  past,  a  new 
prospect  of  Christian  progress  would  open  to  us, 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        205 

and  the  Gospel  might  really  be  before  the  age.  If, 
instead  of  returning  to  antiquated  practices  and 
disused  symbols,  the  higher  purpose  of  the  eleventh 
century  were  capable  of  being  translated  into  the 
language  and  customs  of  the  nineteenth;  then,|perhaps, 
a  truer  ideal  of  religion  and  nobler  forms  of  life 
might  spring  up  among  us.  Or  if  the  spirit  of  the 
Reformers  and  of  the  great  scholars  of  the  Re- 
formation could  be  re-awakened  in  this  and  other 
European  countries,  the  ruinous  barriers  which  divide 
the  Christian  world  might  fall  down,  and  an  intelli- 
gent study  of  Scripture  again  become  the  bond  and 
centre  of  Christians.  But  in  religion  we  are  always 
returning  to  the  past,  instead  of  starting  from  the 
past ;  learning  nothing,  forgetting  nothing ;  trying 
to  force  back  modern  thought  into  the  old  conditions 
instead  of  breathing  anew  the  spirit  of  Christ  into 
an  altered  world.  (Biographical  Sermons,  51—3.) 

Religion  and  the  Lord's  Supper 

It  is  with  strange  and  mixed  feelings  that  we  read 
such  books  as  the  Life  of  St.  Bernard,  or  St.  Theresa, 
or  the  meditations  on  the  Sacrament  in  the  fourth 
book  of  the  Imitation  of  Christ.  For,  although  we 
know  that  to  ourselves  individually,  and  still  more 
to  the  world  at  large,  goodness  is  a  very  dear  bargain 
when  purchased  at  the  expense  of  truth,  yet  we  see 
something  in  the  lives  and  thoughts  of  these  men 
and  women  which  we  would  gladly  transfer  to  our 
own  lives,  and  for  which,  in  this  degenerate  age,  we 
vainly  seem  to  look;  and  to  them  the  very  spirit 
and  essence  of  religion  was  felt  to  be  concentrated 
in  the  Eucharist.  From  the  act  of  partaking  of 


206        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

the  bread  and  wine  the  rest  of  their  spiritual  life 
appeared  to  flow ;  they  were  full  of  rapture  and  fear, 
of  sorrow  and  joy,  at  the  same  instant ;  they  saw 
and  heard  things  of  which  they  could  hardly  speak 
to  others,  seeming  to  lose  the  sense  of  mortality  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  Christ.  This  was  the 
food  of  men  leading  a  superhuman  life,  taking  no 
thought  of  this  world  or  of  themselves,  but  caring 
only  for  the  good  of  other  men,  and  for  the  service 
of  Christ.  There  is  a  great  deal  for  us  to  sympa- 
thize with  and  to  reverence  in  this ;  and,  although 
we  feel  that  no  good,  or  rather  great  evil,  would 
arise  from  the  attempt  to  revive  the  feelings  of  the 
fourth,  or  the  eleventh,  or  the  thirteenth  century  in 
the  nineteenth,  yet  we  shall  do  well  also  to  separate 
these  ideals  of  Christian  life,  these  higher  types  of 
character  and  feeling,  from  the  accidents  which 
accompanied  them,  or  the  fantastic  thoughts  in 
which  they  clothed  themselves.  Men  are  apt  to 
think  that  they  cannot  have  too  much  of  a  good 
thing,  too  much  piety,  too  much  religious  feeling, 
too  much  attendance  at  the  public  worship  of  God. 
They  forget  the  truth  which  the  old  philosophy 
taught,  that  the  life  of  man  should  be  a  harmony ; 
not  absorbed  in  any  one  thought,  even  of  God,  or 
in  any  one  duty  or  affection,  but  growing  up  as 
a  whole  to  the  fullness  of  the  perfect  man.  That 
is  a  maimed  soul  which  loves  goodness  and  has  no 
love  of  truth,  or  which  loves  truth  and  has  no  love 
of  goodness.  The  cultivation  of  one  part  of  religion 
to  the  exclusion  of  another  seems  often  to  exact 
a  terrible  retribution  both  in  individual  characters 
and  in  churches.  There  is  a  nemesis  of  believing 
all  things,  or  indeed  of  any  degree  of  intellectual 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        207 

dishonesty,  which  sometimes  ends  in  despair  of  all 
truth ;  there  is  an  ecstasy  of  religious  devotion 
which  has  not  unfrequently  degenerated  into  licen- 
tiousness. And  in  the  same  city,  and  in  the  same 
church  in  which  the  streaming  eyes  of  saints  have 
been  uplifted  to  the  image  of  Christ  hanging  over 
the  altar,  there  have  been  '  acts  of  faith  '  of  another 
kind,  which  are  not  obscurely  connected  with  these 
ardours  of  Divine  love,  in  which  the  voice  of  pity 
and  of  every  other  human  feeling  is  silenced. 

(Sermons  on  Faith  and  Doctrine ',  306-7.) 

An  Old  Man's  Retrospect 

Now  on  the  threshold  of  old  age,  he  may  be 
supposed  to  take  a  look  backward  over  the  sixty  or 
seventy  years  which  have  passed,  not  in  the  great 
world,  but  within  the  limits  of  his  own  home.  His 
religion  is  not  derived  from  books,  but  comes  to 
him  from  his  experience  of  life. 

First  he  has  a  deep  sense  of  thankfulness  to  God 
for  all  His  mercies.  He  may  have  had  troubles 
and  disappointments  in  life,  but  he  acknowledges 
that  all  things  have  been  ordered  for  the  best.  The 
days  pass  more  quickly  with  him  now  than  formerly 
and  make  less  impression  on  him.  He  will  soon  be 
crossing  the  bar  and  going  forth  upon  the  ocean. 
He  is  not  afraid  of  death,  it  seems  natural  to  him ; 
he  is  soon  about  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  God. 
He  has  many  thoughts  about  the  past  which  he  does 
not  communicate  to  others — about  some  persons  in 
whom  he  has  had  a  peculiar  interest,  about  places 
in  which  he  has  lived,  about  words  spoken  to  him 
in  his  youth  which  have  strangely  imprinted  them- 


208        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

selves  on  his  mind,  about  many  things  which  no 
one  living  but  himself  can  remember.  He  wonders 
how  he  ever  escaped  from  the  temptations  of  youth, 
and  is  sometimes  inclined  to  think  that  the  Provi- 
dence which  watches  over  children  and  drunken 
people  must  have  had  a  special  care  of  him.  He 
may  have  been  guilty  too  of  some  meannesses  or 
sins  which  are  concealed  from  his  fellow  men ;  he 
is  thankful  that  they  are  known  to  God  only.  He 
is  not  greatly  troubled  at  the  remembrance  of  them, 
if  he  have  been  delivered  from  them,  but  much  more 
at  the  unprofitableness  of  his  whole  life. 

Before  he  departs  he  has  some  things  to  say  to 
his  children  or  to  his  friends.  He  will  tell  them 
that  he  now  sees  this  world  in  different  proportions, 
and  that  what  was  once  greatly  valued  by  him  now 
seems  no  longer  of  importance.  The  dreams  of  love 
and  of  ambition  have  fled  away ;  he  is  no  longer 
under  the  dominion  of  the  hour.  The  disappoint- 
ments which  he  has  undergone  no  more  affect  him ; 
he  is  inclined  to  think  that  they  may  have  been  for 
his  good.  He  sees  many  things  in  his  life  which 
might  have  been  better;  opportunities  lost  which 
could  never  afterwards  be  by  him  recovered.  He 
might  have  been  wiser  about  health,  or  the  educa- 
tion of  his  children,  or  his  choice  of  friends,  or  the 
management  of  his  business.  He  would  like  to 
warn  younger  persons  against  some  of  the  mistakes 
which  he  had  himself  made.  He  would  tell  them 
that  no  man  in  later  life  rejoiced  in  the  remembrance 
of  a  quarrel ;  and  that  the  trifles  of  life,  good  tem- 
per, a  gracious  manner,  trifles  as  they  are  thought, 
are  among  the  most  important  elements  of  success. 
Above  all  he  would  exhort  them  to  get  rid  of  selfish- 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        209 

ness  and   self-conceit,  which  are  the  two  greatest 
sources  of  human  evil. 

There  are  some  reflections  which  would  often 
occur  to  his  own  mind  though  he  might  not  speak 
of  them  to  others.  A  sharp  thrill  of  pain  might 
sometimes  pierce  his  heart  when  he  remembered 
any  irremediable  wrong  of  which  he  had  been  the 
author,  or  when  he  recalled  any  unkind  word  to 
a  parent  which  he  had  hastily  uttered,  or  any  dis- 
honourable conduct  of  which  he  had  been  guilty. 
He  need  not  disclose  his  fault  to  men,  but  neither 
will  he  disguise  it  from  himself;  least  of  all,  if 
he  have  repented  of  the  sin  and  is  no  longer  the 
servant  of  it,  should  his  conscience  be  overpowered 
by  the  remembrance  of  it.  For  sin  too,  like  sorrow, 
is  healed  by  time ;  and  he  who  is  really  delivered 
from  its  bondage  need  not  fear  lest  God  should 
create  it  anew  in  him  that  He  may  inflict  punishment 
upon  him.  For  in  the  sight  of  God  we  are  what 
we  are,  not  what  we  have  been  at  some  particular 
moment ;  nor  yet  what  we  are  in  some  detail  or  in 
reference  to  some  particular  act,  but  what  we  are 
on  the  whole. 

Once  more,  when  a  man  is  drawing  towards  the 
end,  he  will  be  apt  to  think  of  the  blessings  of 
friendship  and  of  family  life.  He  has  done  so  little 
for  others  and  received  so  much  from  them.  The 
old  days  of  his  childhood  come  back  to  him  :  the 
memory  of  his  father  and  mother  and  brothers  and 
sisters,  all  in  the  house  together,  and  the  lessons 
and  the  games  and  the  birthday  feasts  and  rejoicings 
as  in  a  picture  crowd  upon  his  thoughts.  When  we 
have  grown  old  they  are  most  of  them  taken  before 
us ;  no  one  else  can  ever  fill  their  place  in  our  lives. 
P 


210        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

Also  there  have  been  friends  who  have  been  like 
brothers  and  sisters  to  us ;  many  of  these,  too,  are 
gone  and  cannot  be  replaced.  They  have  sympathized 
with  our  trials  ;  they  have  inspired  us  with  higher 
thoughts  ;  they  have  spoken  words  which  have  been 
for  ever  imprinted  on  our  mind.  They  have  taken 
trouble  to  do  us  good — sometimes  a  remark  of  one 
of  them  thrown  out  as  if  by  accident,  or  a  letter 
written  at  a  critical  time,  may  have  saved  us  from 
a  fatal  mistake.  They  have  cared  for  our  interests 
more  than  for  their  own,  they  would  have  died  for 
us.  Such  experiences  of  disinterested  friendship 
many  men  have  had ;  and  we  reflect  upon  them 
more  as  we  are  left  more  alone,  and  the  world  is 
withdrawing  from  us.  Living  or  dead,  the  true  friend 
can  never  be  forgotten  by  faithful  and  loyal  hearts. 
And  as  the  days  become  fewer,  we  think  more  of 
them  as  they  once  were  in  life — as  they  are  now 
with  God,  where  we,  too,  soon  shall  be. 

Yet  once  more,  we  may  suppose  the  statesman, 
who  is  within  a  measurable  distance  of  the  end, 

'When  the  hurlyburly's  done, 
When  the  battle's  lost  and  won,' 

to  make  similar  reflections  on  his  own  political  life. 
Perhaps  he  will  say  in  the  words  of  one  who  ten 
years  ago  was  so  familiar  a  figure  among  us :  'In 
the  past  there  are  many  things  I  condemn,  many 
things  that  I  deplore,  but  a  man's  life  must  be  taken 
as  a  whole.'  He  will  not  look  back  to  party  triumphs 
or  great  displays  of  oratory  with  the  satisfaction 
which  he  once  felt  in  them.  He  will  acknowledge 
that  he  has  made  endless  mistakes,  and  will  some- 
times wish  that  he  had  been  more  independent  of 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        211 

popular  opinion.  He  has  done  little  compared  with 
what  he  once  hoped  to  do.  He  will  value  most 
that  part  of  his  work  which  tended  to  promote 
justice,  or  to  save  life  or  to  increase  health,  or  to 
diffuse  education,  or  to  establish  the  foundation  of 
peace  between  nations  and  classes.  And  in  the 
words  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  English  statesmen, 
he  will  be  glad  to  be  remembered  with  expressions 
of  goodwill  in  the  abode  of  those  whose  lot  it  is  to 
labour  and  to  earn  their  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
their  brow. 

Lastly,  we  may  extend  the  spirit  of  the  reflections 
of  Richard  Baxter  to  the  religious  difficulties  of  our 
own  day.  We  may  imagine  an  aged  man  who  has 
lived  through  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years,  and  has 
been  watching  the  movements  which  have  agitated 
the  Church  from  extreme  to  extreme  and  back  again, 
each  tendency  seeming  to  have  as  great  or  even  a 
greater  reaction.  He  would  see,  as  Baxter  saw  in 
his  old  age,  that  all  other  things  come  to  an  end, 
but  that  of  the  love  of  God  and  man  there  is  no 
end.  He  would  not  raise  questions  about  the  rites 
of  the  Church,  or  the  canonicity  of  the  books  of 
Scripture  :  these  belong  to  criticism  and  ecclesi- 
astical history,  not  to  the  spiritual  life.  He  would 
seek  for  the  permanent  and  essential  only  in  the 
books  of  Scripture,  in  the  lives  of  good  men,  in 
the  religion  of  the  world.  To  follow  Christ,  to 
speak  the  truth  in  love,  to  do  to  others  as  you  would 
they  should  do  to  you,  these  are  the  eternal  elements 
of  religion  which  can  never  pass  away,  and  he  who 
lives  in  these  lives  in  God. 

(Biographical  Sermons,  80-5*) 

P    2 


212        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

Charles  Dickens 

He  whose  loss  we  now  mourn  occupied  a  greater 
space  than  any  other  writer  in  the  minds  of  English- 
men during  the  last  thirty-five  years.  We  read  him, 
talked  about  him,  acted  him  ;  we  laughed  with  him, 
we  were  roused  by  him  to  a  consciousness  of  the 
misery  of  others,  and  to  a  pathetic  interest  in  human 
life.  The  workhouse  child,  the  cripple,  the  half- 
clothed  and  half-starved  inhabitant  of  a  debtor's 
prison,  found  a  way  to  his  heart ;  and  through  the 
creations  of  his  genius  touch  our  hearts  also.  Works 
of  fiction  would  be  intolerable  if  they  attempted,  like 
sermons,  directly  to  instruct  us,  but  indirectly  they 
are  great  instructors  of  the  world;  and  we  can  hardly 
calculate  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  is  due  to  a 
writer  who  has  led  us  through  our  better  feelings 
to  sympathize  with  the  good,  the  true,  the  sincere, 
the  honest  English  character  of  ordinary  life ;  and 
he  has  done  us  no  harm  in  laughing  at  the  egotism, 
the  hypocrisy,  the  false  respectability  of  religious 
professors  and  others.  To  another  great  humourist, 
who  lies  in  this  church,  the  words  have  been  applied, 
that  4  the  gaiety  of  nations  has  been  eclipsed  by  his 
death.'  But  of  him  who  has  been  recently  taken 
I  would  rather  say  in  humble  language  that  no  one 
was  ever  so  much  beloved  or  so  much  mourned. 
There  is  no  house  in  which  books  are  read  which 
did  not  receive  a  shock  when  it  became  known  ten 
days  ago  that  he,  over  whose  pages  we  had  pored 
with  such  thrilling  interest,  was  no  longer  amongst 
us.  Men  seemed  to  have  lost,  not  a  great  writer 
only,  but  one  whom  they  had  personally  known ; 
who  was  the  friend  of  them  and  of  their  families. 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        213 

And  so  we  bid  him  <  farewell '  once  more,  and 
return  to  our  daily  occupations.  He  has  passed  into 
the  state  of  being  in  which,  we  may  believe,  human 
souls  are  drawn  to  one  another  by  nearer  ties,  and 
the  envious  lines  of  demarcation  which  separate  them 
here  are  broken  down.  And,  if  we  could  conceive 
that  other  world,  we  might  perhaps  imagine  him 
still  at  home,  rejoicing  to  have  a  place  at  that  banquet 
to  which  the  poor  and  the  friendless,  the  halt  and 
the  lame,  are  specially  invited.  '  The  small  and  the 
great  are  there,  and  the  servant  is  free  from  his 
master ; '  '  there  the  prisoners  rest  together,  they 
hear  not  the  voice  of  the  oppressor ; '  '  there  the 
weary  are  at  rest.' 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons ,  274—5.) 

A  Liberal  Clergyman 

It  has  been  said  both  of  him  [Stanley]  and  of 
others,  that  a  liberal  clergyman  has  no  true  place  in 
the  Church  of  England,  that  he  subscribes  what  he 
does  not  believe,  that  he  repeats  words  in  a  sense 
which  they  do  not  mean.  I  think  he  would  have 
admitted  that  liberal  clergymen  are  in  a  position  of 
difficulty,  and  that  many  changes  are  needed  in  the 
Church  of  England  before  it  can  be  adapted  to 
them,  or  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  laity.  And 
he  himself  would  often  lament  the  indifference  which 
the  laity  themselves  showed  to  the  great  question 
whether  the  Church  of  England  could  continue  to 
be  maintained  as  the  Church  of  the  English  nation, 
or  whether  (as  in  other  European  countries)  Church 
and  State,  the  secular  and  religious  elements,  should 
be  allowed  to  drift  into  a  condition  of  hopeless 


214        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

antagonism.  To  the  question  which  I  just  now 
raised,  whether  a  person  of  what  are  termed  liberal 
opinions  can  subscribe  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
I  think  that  the  best  answer  is  given  in  the  striking 
words  of  the  Dean  of  Westminster  himself,  i  that  if 
subscription  is  strictly  enforced,  then  every  one,  from 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  the  humblest 
clergyman  in  the  wilds  of  Cumberland,  must  leave 
the  Church.  For  the  difficulty  is  not  one  which 
presses  upon  one  party  only,  but  almost  equally 
upon  all.'  On  the  other  hand  there  are  weighty 
considerations,  which  may  induce  men  of  a  liberal 
cast  of  mind  to  take  Orders  in  the  present  day : 
firstly,  the  greater  need  of  them  than  ever  before : 
secondly,  the  evil  of  giving  up  a  noble  profession, 
for  which  a  man  is  naturally  fitted,  on  somewhat 
doubtful  and  casuistical  grounds :  thirdly,  the  weak- 
ness of  isolation  in  good  works  ;  for  a  man  who 
lives  apart  from  the  Church  of  England  will  probably 
live  apart  from  every  other  religious  society  :  fourthly, 
the  necessity  of  co-operation  and  common  action ; 
and  common  action,  whether  in  a  church  or  in  any 
other  institution,  involves  some  sacrifice  of  opinions, 
tastes,  wishes.  (Biographical  Sermons,  144-6.) 

The  Lady  Augusta  Stanley 

*  She  was  a  woman  of  the  world  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  word.  She  was  in  the  world  and 
mixed  with  the  world,  but  was  not  of  it.  She  was 
gifted  with  remarkable  prudence,  and  reticence, 
and  insight  into  human  nature.  She  had  lived  much 
in  Courts,  but  was  unspoiled  by  them;  her  mind 
seemed  rather  to  be  enriched  and  ennobled  by  her 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        215 

large  experience  of  life.  There  was  never  anything 
shallow  or  uncharitable  in  her  judgement  of  persons 
or  events ;  she  had  no  enmities  or  antagonisms,  she 
lived  herself  and  counselled  others  to  live  in  a  spirit 
far  above  them.  If  you  had  asked  her  to  what 
religious  party  she  belonged  she  would  have  been 
unable  to  answer ;  but  she  would  sometimes  seriously 
tell  her  friends  amongst  the  clergy  that  they  must 
'try  to  lift  up  the  cloud  of  superstition  which  was 
settling  upon  the  Church.'  There  were  many  things 
in  religion  about  which  she  was  habitually  silent, 
probably  because,  though  often  familiarly  spoken  of, 
she  felt  that  they  were  not  within  the  range  of  our 
knowledge.  She  was  not  afraid  of  the  truth,  but 
ready  to  follow  it  to  the  end;  as  she  once  said, 
speaking  of  her  brother,  '  the  love  of  the  truth  ran  in 
her  family.'  But  what  was  most  remarkable  in  her, 
the  secret  of  her  power,  the  spring  of  her  life,  was 
her  extraordinary  affection  not  for  one  or  two  persons 
only,  but  for  every  one  with  whom  she  was  brought 
into  contact,  extending  in  ever-widening  circles  to 
all  ranks.  She  had  a  kind  look  or  smile  or  word 
for  everybody ;  when  she  entered  a  room  she  made 
the  company  happier,  and  brighter,  and  pleasanter 
than  they  were  before.  The  servants  of  a  house  in 
which  she  was  visiting  quickly  grew  attached  to  her, 
and  would  ask  when  she  was  coming  again.  For 
she  had  that  touch  of  human  feeling  which  makes 
all  things  kin ;  she  knew  and  kept  the  secrets  of 
many  hearts;  she  strove  to  reconcile  hostile  and 
jarring  natures.  A  last  message  to  one  of  her 
friends  was  '  that  when  attacked  by  others  he  should 
regard  his  opponents  only  as  acting  under  a  mis- 
understanding.' She  had  great  talents  for  society, 


216        RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES 

which  she  used  with  the  distinct  object  of  bringing 
people  together,  that  they  might  become  better  ac- 
quainted and  feel  more  kindly  towards  one  another. 
...  I  should  sum  her  character  in  a  word;  she 
loved  much  and  therefore  she  was  beloved.  But .  .  . 
I  seem  to  hear  a  gentle  voice  rebuking  me  for  saying 
too  much  about  her,  and  ascribing  to  her  virtues 
which  she  was  not  conscious  of  possessing. 

(Unpublished.} 

W.  H.  Smith 

*  Among  statesmen  who  have  flourished  during 
the  last  fifty  years,  there  appear  to   have  been  one 
or  two  striking  examples  of  men  whose  internal  life 
was  strangely  in  contrast  with  their  external  circum- 
stances.    To  one  such  at  least  our  attention  has  been 
drawn  by  the  biography  which  has  recently  appeared 
of  him.     He  was  a  man  devoid  of  brilliant  quality, 
having  an  indifference,  almost  a  dislike,  to  power, 
who  for  his  honesty,  his  trustworthiness,  his  dis- 
interestedness, his  clear  sense  and  judgement,  was 
chosen   at  a  critical   period  in  the  history  of  this 
country  to  be  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
And  when  after  two  or  three  years  his  work  seemed 
to  be  over,  as  simply  as  he  had  taken  he  resigned 
his  great  office,  feeling  that  he  had  other  things  to 
do  in  the  remainder  of  his  life  than  to  be  head  of 
a  party.     Such  men  should  be  dear  to  the  hearts 
of  Englishmen,  for  there  are  few  of  them. 

(Unpublished.} 

Lord  Macaulay 

*  He  had  perhaps  the  greatest  popular  fame  of  any 
literary  man  of  his  time ;  honours  and  riches  flowed 


RELIGIOUS  PERSONALITIES        217 

in  upon  him  in  later  life.  Yet  the  central  point  of 
this  great  man's  heart,  as  revealed  after  his  death  in 
his  letters,  is  found  to  be  his  early  home,  his  surviving 
sister,  the  memory  of  another  who  had  died  twenty 
years  before.  (Unpublished.) 


THE   WISDOM   OF   LIFE 

Ideals 

*  THERE  is  a  great  blessedness  in  having  had 
ideals ;  even  though  they  have  been  imperfectly 
realized,  though  we  have  sometimes  seen  them  and 
sometimes  not,  and  though  it  was  impossible  to 
carry  them  with  us  into  daily  life  and  the  habits  of 
the  world  have  prevailed  over  them.  Nor  indeed 
would  it  be  good  for  most  of  us,  or  within  the  limits 
of  human  nature,  that  we  should  be  constantly  in 
a  state  of  spiritual  exaltation.  A  few  men  of  this 
temper  there  have  been,  and  when  such  a  temper 
has  been  combined  with  deep  and  unshaken  moral 
conviction,  they  have  been  the  authors  of  the  greatest 
blessings  to  mankind. 

But  we  see  this  light  at  certain  seasons  only.  As 
in  summer-time  we  may  look  at  the  sunset  or 
sunrise  when  clothed  in  more  than  ordinary  beauty, 
— we  go  our  way  to  our  daily  work  or  turn  again 
to  our  nightly  rest,  and  the  recollection  becomes 
fainter ;  yet  we  feel  that  life  has  been  refreshed  by 
it ;  the  sweet  light  has  lighted  up  the  distant  earth 
and  heaven  for  us.  And  more  than  we  could 
express  to  others  arose  in  our  minds  at  the  sight ; 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  219 

perhaps  associated  with  the  thought  of  companions 
whom  we  have  loved,  of  a  child  who  is  at  a  distance 
from  us,  a  parent,  a  wife,  whose  star  has  set  beneath 
the  horizon.  And  we  cannot  speak  of  these  things 
to  others ;  they  would  seem  fanciful  and  emotional, 
and  therefore  we  keep  them  to  ourselves. 

(Unpublished.} 

The  Sameness  of  Life 

*  There  is  one  thing  that  strikes  us  in  maturer 
years  when  we  begin  to  reflect  upon  life :  not  the 
shortness  nor  the  uncertainty,  nor  the  unhappiness 
of  human  life,  but  the  sameness  of  it ;  the  absence  of 
any  power  of  growth  or  improvement  in  ourselves 
or  in  others.  Time  goes  on,  and  finds  us  at  the 
same  place  and  in  the  same  occupation,  and  as  little 
changed  in  mind  and  character  as  in  our  external 
circumstances.  The  old  friend  or  former  neighbour 
coming  in  sees  us  just  the  same  as  ten  or  twenty 
years  before,  having  the  same  weaknesses,  the  same 
infirmities  of  temper,  the  same  ways  of  thinking  and 
acting,  the  same  remissness  or  punctuality  in  business, 
the  same  virtues  or  defects,  a  little,  perhaps,  more 
defined  by  the  advance  of  years,  like  the  lines  in  the 
face,  but  in  the  main  unaltered.  And  with  many 
of  us  the  occupation  in  which  we  have  been 
engaged  has  acquired  such  a  hold  on  the  mind  as  to 
leave  no  room  for  anything  else.  The  greater  part 
of  mankind  are  bowed  down  by  the  necessity  of 
providing  for  their  daily  wants,  and  seem  hardly  able 
to  rise  above  them.  They  do  as  they  have  always 
done,  and  as  their  fathers  did  before  them;  and 
have  no  principle  of  life  or  growth  in  them.  When 


220  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

we  think  of  these  things,  are  we  not  tempted  to  ask, 
'What  profit  is  there  in  an  existence  like  this,  so 
dull,  so  dreary,  so  useless  ?  Would  any  rational 
creature  desire  to  come  back  and  have  his  threescore 
years  and  ten  over  again  ? ' 

There  was  a  time,  indeed,  in  which  life  wore 
another  aspect  to  us,  in  the  days  of  childhood  and 
youth,  when  we  seemed  to  be  growing  always, 
dwelling  amid  youthful  hopes  and  fancies,  the  very 
memory  of  which  is  still  dear  to  us.  Then  every 
year  brought  some  increase  to  our  store  of  know- 
ledge, some  fresh  delight,  some  new  experience  : 
the  world  was  full  of  wonder  to  us,  and  many 
illusions  about  happiness  and  success  in  life  hovered 
about  our  path.  Some  dreams  gilded  the  days  even 
of  the  poorest.  That  was  the  age  in  which  friend- 
ships were  formed  by  us :  the  heart  was  full  of 
sympathy  and  naturally  drew  towards  others.  That 
was  the  springtime  in  which  the  bloom  of  life  was 
beginning  to  appear,  and  the  powers  of  life  to 
quicken,  and  the  end  was  still  a  long  way  off.  But 
when  half  our  days  are  told,  then  the  time  of  growth 
is  past;  there  is  no  possibility  of  adding  to  our 
stature ;  the  light  of  hope  becomes  dimmer  and  the 
end  is  already  in  sight.  Men  say  regretfully  or 
jestingly  that  '  their  best  years  are  over  now '  and 
that  '  they  know  what  the  world  has  to  offer.'  And 
when  their  hour  arrives  they  pass  away,  neither  in 
any  great  fear,  nor  in  any  great  hope,  the  creatures 
as  they  have  ever  been  of  habit,  and  circumstance, 
and  opinion. 

This  ...  is  not  the  picture  of  the  Christian  life. 

(Unpublished.) 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  221 

Wasted  Lives 

There  is  nothing  sadder  in  this  world  than  the 
lost  or  wasted  lives  of  men;  sadder  to  the  eye 
which  is  able  to  discern  them  than  poverty  or  death. 
Those  who  are  the  sufferers  in  this  generally  retain 
a  lifelong  delusion  about  them,  viz.  that  they  are 
caused  by  anybody's  fault  rather  than  their  own. 
And  they  do  in  fact  arise  commonly  not  out  of  any 
great  fault  or  crime,  but  from  ignorance  of  the  world 
or  want  of  conduct,  or  neglect  of  opportunities  which 
never  recur.  Who  has  not  met  with  the  helpless 
half-intelligent  man  full  of  many  schemes,  who  in 
middle  life  has  nothing  to  do,  and  is  soliciting  his 
friends  to  obtain  for  him  an  office  which  he  is 
unfitted  to  hold,  that  he  and  his  family  may  have 
the  means  of  support !  (c  Put  me  into  one  of  the 
priests'  offices  that  I  may  eat  a  piece  of  bread.') 
(College  Sermons •,  256-7.) 

Causes  of  Failure  in  Life 

A  common  cause  of  failure  is  a  want  of  the  sense 
of  proportion,  that  famous  art  of  measure  which  the 
Greek  philosopher  taught,  the  art  of  measuring  things 
in  their  relation  to  ourselves  and  in  relation  to  one 
another.  Men  aim  at  what  is  beyond  them  when 
they  might  have  been  useful  and  valuable  in  a  more 
humble  way  of  life.  They  have  dreams  of  ambition 
which  might  have  been  a  stimulus  to  them,  if  they 
had  ever  thought  seriously  of  the  means  by  which 
their  dreams  were  to  be  realized.  They  have  be- 
lieved that  they  were  intended  by  nature  to  be  poets, 
and  they  had  really  probably  enough  of  the  poetical 
temperament  to  make  them  admirers  or  feeble  imi- 


222  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

tators  of  others.  But  they  did  not  consider  how 
great  was  the  interval  between  the  appreciation  of 
poetry  and  the  force  and  fire  of  genius.  Others 
fancy  that  they  will  become  great  authors  or  great 
scholars,  when  they  might  have  been  good  teachers. 
Others  are  so  constituted  that  they  overlook  the 
obvious  and  seize  upon  the  remote ;  they  lose  them- 
selves in  paradoxes  and  crotchets  ;  this  is  not  the 
stuff  out  of  which  sound  lawyers  or  successful  prac- 
titioners are  likely  to  be  made.  So  youth  passes 
away  in  many  illusions  and  mistakes,  and  the  real 
business  of  life  is  neglected. 

(College  Sermons,  259—60.) 

How  far  does  Christianity  influence  the 
World  ? 

It  is  impossible  not  to  observe  that  innumerable 
persons — shall  we  say  the  majority  of  mankind  ? — 
who  have  a  belief  in  God  and  immortality,  have 
nevertheless  hardly  any  consciousness  of  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  They  seem  to  live  away 
from  them  in  the  routine  of  business  or  of  society, 
'the  common  life  of  all  men,'  not  without  a  sense 
of  right,  and  a  rule  of  truth  and  honesty,  yet 
insensible  to  what  our  Saviour  meant  by  taking  up 
the  cross  and  following  Him,  or  what  St.  Paul 
meant  by  '  being  one  with  Christ.'  They  die  with- 
out any  great  fear  or  lively  faith  ;  to  the  last  more 
interested  about  concerns  of  this  world  than  about 
the  hope  of  another.  In  the  Christian  sense  they 
are  neither  proud  nor  humble;  they  have  seldom 
experienced  the  sense  of  sin,  they  have  never  felt 
keenly  the  need  of  forgiveness.  Neither  on  the 


THE  WISDOM  OP  LIFE  223 

other  hand  do  they  value  themselves  on  their  good 
deeds,  or  expect  to  be  saved  by  their  own  merits. 
Often  they  are  men  of  high  moral  character ;  many 
of  them  have  strong  and  disinterested  attachments, 
and  quick  human  sympathies  ;  sometimes  a  stoical 
feeling  of  uprightness,  or  a  peculiar  sensitiveness  to 
dishonour.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  say  they  are 
without  religion.  They  join  in  its  public  acts  ;  they 
are  offended  at  profaneness  or  impiety;  they  are 
thankful  for  the  blessings  of  life,  and  do  not  rebel 
against  its  misfortunes.  Such  persons  meet  us  at 
every  turn.  They  are  those  whom  we  know  and 
associate  with ;  honest  in  their  dealings,  respectable 
in  their  lives,  decent  in  their  conversation.  The 
Scripture  speaks  to  us  of  two  classes  represented  by 
the  Church  and  the  world,  the  wheat  and  the  tares, 
the  sheep  and  the  goats,  the  friends  and  enemies  of 
God.  We  cannot  say  in  which  of  these  two 
divisions  we  should  find  a  place  for  them. 

The  picture  is  a  true  one,  and,  if  we  turn  the 
light  round,  some  of  us  may  find  in  it  a  resemblance 
of  ourselves  no  less  than  of  other  men.  Others  will 
include  us  in  the  same  circle  in  which  we  are 
including  them.  What  shall  we  say  to  such  a  state, 
common  as  it  is  to  both  us  and  them  ?  The  fact 
that  we  are  considering  is  not  the  evil  of  the  world, 
but  the  neutrality  of  the  world,  the  indifference  of 
the  world,  the  inertness  of  the  world.  There  are 
multitudes  of  men  and  women  everywhere  who 
have  no  peculiarly  Christian  feelings,  to  whom, 
except  for  the  indirect  influence  of  Christian  institu- 
tions, the  life  and  death  of  Christ  would  have  made 
no  difference,  and  who  have,  nevertheless,  the  com- 
mon sense  of  truth  and  right  almost  equally  with 


224  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

true  Christians.  You  cannot  say  of  them  '  there  is 
none  that  doeth  good;  no,  not  one.'  The  other 
tone  of  St.  Paul  is  more  suitable :  '  When  the 
Gentiles  that  know  not  the  law  do  by  nature  the 
things  contained  in  the  law,  these  not  knowing 
the  law  are  a  law  unto  themselves.'  So  of  what  we 
commonly  term  the  world,  as  opposed  to  those  who 
make  a  profession  of  Christianity,  we  must  not 
shrink  from  saying,  c  When  men  of  the  world  do 
by  nature  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good 
report,  these  not  being  conscious  of  the  grace  of 
God,  do  by  nature  what  can  only  be  done  by  His 
grace.'  Why  should  we  make  them  out  worse  than 
they  are  ?  We  must  cease  to  speak  evil  of  them, 
ere  they  will  judge  fairly  of  the  characters  of  religious 
men.  That,  with  so  little  recognition  of  His  personal 
relation  to  them,  God  does  not  cast  them  off,  is 
a  ground  of  hope  rather  than  of  fear — of  thankfulness, 
not  of  regret. 

Many  strange  thoughts  arise  at  the  contemplation 
of  this  intermediate  world,  which  some  blindness, 
or  hardness,  or  distance  in  nature,  separates  from 
the  love  of  Christ.  We  ask  ourselves  '  What  will 
become  of  them  after  death  ? '  '  For  what  state  of 
existence  can  this  present  life  be  a  preparation  ? ' 
Perhaps  they  will  turn  the  question  upon  us  ;  and 
we  may  answer  for  ourselves  and  them,  '  that  we 
throw  ourselves  on  the  mercy  of  God.'  We  cannot 
deny  that  in  the  sight  of  God  they  may  condemn 
us;  their  moral  worth  may  be  more  acceptable  to 
Him  than  our  Christian  feeling.  For  we  know  that 
God  is  not  like  some  earthly  sovereign,  who  may 
be  offended  at  the  want  of  attention  which  we  show 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  225 

to  him.  He  can  only  estimate  us  always  by  our 
fulfilment  of  moral  and  Christian  duties.  When 
the  balance  is  struck,  it  is  most  probable,  nay,  it  is 
quite  certain,  that  many  who  are  first  will  be  last, 
and  the  last  first.  And  this  transfer  will  take  place, 
not  only  among  those  who  are  within  the  gates  of 
the  Christian  Church,  but  from  the  world  also  into 
the  Church.  There  may  be  some  among  us  who 
have  given  the  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  brother,  '  not 
knowing  it  was  the  Lord.'  Some  again  may  be 
leading  a  life  in  their  own  family  which  is  c  not  far 
from  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  We  do  not  say  that 
for  ourselves  there  is  more  than  one  way ;  that  way 
is  Christ.  But,  in  the  case  of  others,  it  is  right 
that  we  should  take  into  account  their  occupation, 
character,  circumstances,  the  manner  in  which 
Christianity  may  have  been  presented  to  them,  the 
intellectual  or  other  difficulties  which  may  have 
crossed  their  path.  We  shall  think  more  of  the 
unconscious  Christianity  of  their  lives  than  of  the 
profession  of  it  on  their  lips.  So  that  we  seem 
almost  compelled  to  be  Christian  and  unchristian 
at  once  :  Christian  in  reference  to  the  obligations  of 
Christianity  upon  ourselves  ;  unchristian — if  indeed 
it  be  not  a  higher  kind  of  Christianity — in  not 
judging  those  who  are  unlike  ourselves  by  our  own 
standard.  (The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  241-3.) 

Moral  Weakness 

There  is  a  state  in  which  man  is  powerless  to 

act,  and  is,  nevertheless,  clairvoyant  of  all  the  good 

and  evil  of  his  own  nature.     He  places  the  good 

and  evil  principle  before  him,  and  is  ever  oscillating 

Q 


226  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

between  them.  He  traces  the  labyrinth  of  conflicting 
principles  in  the  world,  and  is  yet  further  perplexed 
and  entangled.  He  is  sensitive  to  every  breath  of 
feeling,  and  incapable  of  the  performance  of  any 
duty.  Or  take  another  example :  it  sometimes 
happens  that  the  remembrance  of  past  suffering,  or 
the  consciousness  of  sin,  may  so  weigh  a  man  down 
as  fairly  to  paralyse  his  moral  power.  He  is  dis- 
tracted between  what  he  is  and  what  he  was  ;  old 
habits  and  vices  and  the  new  character  which  is 
being  fashioned  in  him.  Sometimes  the  balance 
seems  to  hang  equal ;  he  feels  the  earnest  wish  and 
desire  to  do  rightly,  but  cannot  hope  to  find  pleasure 
and  satisfaction  in  a  good  life  ;  he  desires  heartily 
to  repent,  but  can  never  think  it  possible  that  God 
should  forgive.  'It  is  I,  and  it  is  not  I,  but  sin 
that  dwelleth  in  me/  '  I  have,  and  have  never 
ceased  to  have,  the  wish  for  better  things,  even  amid 
haunts  of  infamy  and  vice.'  In  such  language,  even 
now,  though  with  less  fervour  than  in  'the  first 
spiritual  chaos  of  the  affections,'  does  the  soul  cry 
out  to  God — 4  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  : ' 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  297.) 

Casuistry 

The  distinctions  of  the  casuist  are  far  from 
equalling  the  subtilty  of  human  life,  or  the  diversity 
of  its  conditions.  It  is  quite  true  that  actions  the 
same  in  name  are,  in  the  scale  of  right  and  wrong, 
as  different  as  can  be  imagined;  varying  with  the 
age,  temperament,  education,  circumstances  of  each 
individual  The  casuist  is  not  in  fault  for  maintain- 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  227 

ing  this  difference,  but  for  supposing  that  he  can 
classify  or  distinguish  them  so  as  to  give  any  con- 
ception of  their  innumerable  shades  and  gradations. 
All  his  folios  are  but  the  weary  effort  to  abstract  or 
make  a  brief  of  the  individuality  of  man.  The  very 
actions  which  he  classifies  change  their  meaning  as 
he  writes  them  down,  like  the  words  of  a  sentence 
torn  away  from  their  context.  He  is  ever  idealizing 
and  creating  distinctions,  splitting  straws,  dividing 
hairs ;  yet  any  one  who  reflects  on  himself  will 
idealize  and  distinguish  further  still,  and  think  of 
his  whole  life  in  all  its  circumstances,  with  its 
sequence  of  thoughts  and  motives,  and,  withal, 
many  excuses.  But  no  one  can  extend  this  sort 
of  idealism  beyond  himself ;  no  insight  of  the  con- 
fessor can  make  him  clairvoyant  of  the  penitent's 
soul.  Know  ourselves  we  sometimes  truly  may, 
but  we  cannot  know  others,  and  no  other  can  know 
us.  No  other  can  know  or  understand  us  in  the 
same  wonderful  or  mysterious  way;  no  other  can 
be  conscious  of  the  spirit  in  which  we  have  lived ; 
no  other  can  see  us  as  a  whole  or  get  within.  God 
has  placed  a  veil  of  flesh  between  ourselves  and 
other  men,  to  screen  the  nakedness  of  our  soul. 
Into  the  secret  chamber  He  does  not  require  that 
we  should  admit  any  other  judge  or  counsellor  but 
Himself.  Two  eyes  only  are  upon  us — the  eye  of 
our  own  soul — the  eye  of  God,  and  the  one  is  the 
light  of  the  other.  That  is  the  true  light,  on  the 
which  if  a  man  look  he  will  have  a  knowledge  of 
himself,  different  in  kind  from  that  which  the  con- 
fessor extracts  from  the  books  of  the  casuists. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  173-4.) 

Q   2 


228  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 


The  Evils  of  Casuistry 

Casuistry  not  only  renders  us  independent  of  our 
own  convictions,  it  renders  us  independent  also  of 
the  opinion  of  mankind  in  general.  It  puts  the 
confessor  in  the  place  of  ourselves,  and  in  the  place 
of  the  world.  By  making  the  actions  of  men 
matters  of  science,  it  cuts  away  the  supports  and 
safeguards  which  public  opinion  gives  to  morality ; 
the  confessor  in  the  silence  of  the  closet  easily 
introduces  principles  from  which  the  common  sense 
or  conscience  of  mankind  would  have  shrunk  back. 
Especially  in  matters  of  truth  and  falsehood,  in  the 
nice  sense  of  honour  shown  in  the  unwillingness 
to  get  others  within  our  power,  his  standard  will 
probably  fall  short  of  that  of  the  world  at  large. 
Public  opinion,  it  is  true,  drives  men's  vices  inwards ; 
it  teaches  them  to  conceal  their  faults  from  others, 
and  if  possible  from  themselves,  and  this  very  con- 
cealment may  sink  them  in  despair,  or  cover  them 
with  self-deceit.  And  the  soul — whose  '  house  is 
its  castle' — has  an  enemy  within,  the  strength  of 
which  may  be  often  increased  by  communications 
from  without.  Yet  the  good  of  this  privacy  is  on 
the  whole  greater  than  the  evil.  Not  only  is  the 
outward  aspect  of  society  more  decorous,  and  the 
confidence  between  man  and  man  less  liable  to  be 
impaired ;  the  mere  fact  of  men's  sins  being  known 
to  themselves  and  God  only,  and  the  support 
afforded  even  by  the  undeserved  opinion  of  their 
fellows,  are  of  themselves  great  helps  to  a  moral 
and  religious  life.  Many  a  one  by  being  thought 
better  than  he  was  has  become  better;  by  being 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  229 

thought  as  bad  or  worse  has  become  worse.  To 
communicate  our  sins  to  those  who  have  no  claim 
to  know  them  is  of  itself  a  diminution  of  our  moral 
strength.  It  throws  upon  others  what  we  ought  to 
do  for  ourselves  ;  it  leads  us  to  seek  in  the  sympathy 
of  others  a  strength  which  no  sympathy  can  give. 
It  is  a  greater  trust  than  is  right  for  us  commonly 
to  repose  in  our  fellow  creatures;  it  places  us  in 
their  power ;  it  may  make  us  their  tools. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  174-5.) 

There  had  always  been  a  tendency  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  probably  arising  out  of  the  needs  of  con- 
fession, to  analyse  and  define  human  actions  in 
a  greater  degree  than  their  subtle  nature  really 
admits.  This  tendency  was  carried  to  the  furthest 
extreme  by  the  Jesuits,  who  for  more  than  a  century 
were  the  great  spiritual  power  of  the  continent  of 
Europe.  As  a  matter  of  science,  they  divided  and 
distinguished  sins  according  to  their  kinds;  they 
separated  the  intention  from  the  act,  the  word  from 
the  thought ;  they  allowed  the  judgement  of  any 
teacher  to  be  the  measure  of  right  and  wrong. 
Having  failed  in  raising  up  the  world  to  the  precepts 
of  the  Gospel,  they  were  satisfied  if  they  could 
bring  down  the  Gospel  to  the  world ;  provided 
only  the  rulers  of  the  world,  society  however 
profligate,  commerce  however  dishonest,  could  be 
retained  within  the  limits  of  the  Church.  They 
took  away  the  life  of  a  moral  being,  and  substituted 
for  it  a  dead  anatomy  of  human  actions  reduced 
to  mere  abstractions.  From  some  point  of  view  or 
other,  it  was  impossible  to  utter  a  complete  untruth 
or  to  commit  a  perfect  sin. 


230  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

It  is  strange  to  reflect  that  the  inventors  of  these 
doctrines  were  many  of  them  men  of  saintly  life, 
devoted  to  the  service  of  their  fellow  men  and  of 
God.  Yet  not  the  less  was  their  teaching  fatal 
both  to  morality  and  religion.  Had  they  succeeded, 
common  honesty  and  common  sense  must  have 
disappeared  from  the  world.  We  should  have  been 
compelled  to  turn  not  to  the  Christian  Church,  but 
to  the  great  Gentile  philosophers,  for  the  first 
principles  of  ethics.  A  vast  literature  sprang  up  in 
many  volumes,  which  expounded  the  distinctions 
of  this  false  science ;  and  books  founded  on  the 
writings  of  the  first  Jesuits  are  still  used  by  the 
Catholic  clergy. 

(Biographical  Sermons,  I O I — 2 . ) 

The  Imitation  of  Christ 

He  who  would  be  the  follower  of  Christ  must 
come  home  to  himself:  he  must  put  away  sin  and 
evil ;  he  must  have  a  conscience  as  the  noonday 
clear ;  he  must  think  of  his  own  mind  as  a  temple, 
into  which  no  unclean  thing  is  permitted  to  enter. 
And  when  he  has  set  his  own  house  in  order,  he 
may  find  out  ways  of  doing  good  to  his  fellow  men. 
He  will  seek  to  infuse  into  them  friendliness  and 
good- will ;  he  will  create  a  good  understanding  among 
them,  he  will  try  to  draw  them  out  of  themselves 
by  sympathy  and  affection.  If  he  would  exercise 
a  good  influence  on  society,  he  must  himself  also 
be  free  from  little  faults,  such  as  vanity  or  egotism, 
which  so  easily  beset  us.  He  will  not  wish  to  be 
admired  of  the  world,  but  only  to  do  the  will  of 
God.  The  society  in  which  he  lives  will  in  some 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  231 

very  real  but  hardly  perceptible  manner  be  the  better 
for  his  example.  He  who  has  a  standard  above 
that  of  ordinary  men  will  insensibly  raise  them  to 
a  higher  level.  He  will  be  very  careful  of  hurting 
the  feelings  of  others,  and  will  not  allow  himself  to 
feel  too  deeply  the  slights  and  accidents  which 
occur  in  the  course  of  life.  For  he  must  be  happy 
himself  who  would  make  others  happy.  He  will 
know  that  there  are  times  of  sorrow  and  trouble 
when  a  word  of  kindness  or  advice  has  a  peculiar 
value.  He  will  find  weak  natures  who  need  to  be 
encouraged ;  to  stronger  natures  he  may  sometimes 
give  a  hint  which  will  keep  such  a  one  in  the  right 
path,  and  determine  the  course  of  his  life. 

(College  Sermons,  323—4). 

Broken  Lives 

We  acknowledge  that  there  are  broken  lives, 
pieces  of  lives  which  have  begun  in  this  world  to 
be  completed,  as  we  believe,  in  another  state  of 
being.  And  some  of  them  have  been  like  fragments 
of  ancient  art,  which  we  prize  not  for  their  com- 
pleteness but  for  their  quality,  and  because  they 
seem  to  give  us  a  type  of  something  which  we  can 
hardly  see  anywhere  upon  earth.  Of  such  lives  we 
must  judge,  not  by  what  the  person  said  or  wrote 
or  did  in  the  short  span  of  human  existence,  but 
by  what  they  were :  if  they  exercised  some  peculiar 
influence  on  society  and  on  friends,  if  they  had  some 
rare  grace  of  humility,  or  simplicity,  or  resignation, 
or  love  of  truth,  or  self-devotion,  which  was  not  to 
be  met  with  in  others.  God  does  not  measure 
men's  lives  only  by  the  amount  of  work  which  is 


232  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

accomplished  in  them.  He  who  gave  the  power 
to  work  may  also  withhold  the  power.  And  some 
of  these  broken  lives  may  have  a  value  in  His  sight 
which  no  bustle  or  activity  of  ordinary  goodness 
could  have  attained.  There  have  been  persons  con- 
fined to  a  bed  of  sickness,  blind,  palsied,  tormented 
with  pain  and  want,  who  yet  may  be  said  to  have 
led  an  almost  perfect  life.  Such  persons  afford 
examples  to  us,  not  indeed  of  a  work  carried  out 
to  the  end  (for  their  circumstances  did  not  admit  of 
this),  but  of  a  work,  whether  finished  or  unfinished, 
which  at  any  moment  is  acceptable  to  God.  And 
we  desire  to  learn  of  them,  and  to  have  an  end 
like  theirs  when  the  work  of  active  life  is  over  and 
we  sit  patiently  waiting  for  the  will  of  God. 

(College  Sermons,  344-5.) 

The  Happiness  of  Family  Life 

The  family,  like  the  home  in  which  they  live, 
needs  to  be  kept  in  repair,  lest  some  little  rift  in 
the  walls  should  appear  and  let  in  the  wind  and  rain. 
The  happiness  of  a  family  depends  very  much  on 
attention  to  little  things.  Order,  comfort,  regularity, 
cheerfulness,  good  taste,  pleasant  conversation — these 
are  the  ornaments  of  daily  life,  deprived  of  which  it 
degenerates  into  a  wearisome  routine.  There  must 
be  light  in  the  dwelling,  and  brightness  and  pure 
spirits  and  cheerful  smiles.  Home  is  not  usually 
the  place  of  toil,  but  the  place  to  which  we  return 
and  rest  from  our  labours;  in  which  parents  and 
children  meet  together  and  pass  a  joyful  and  careless 
hour.  To  have  nothing  to  say  to  others  at  such 
times,  in  any  rank  of  life,  is  a  very  unfortunate 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  233 

temper  of  mind,  and  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as 
a  serious  fault ;  at  any  rate,  it  makes  a  house  vacant 
and  joyless,  and  persons  who  are  afflicted  by  this 
distemper  should  remember  seriously  that  if  it  is 
not  cured  in  time  it  will  pursue  them  through  life. 
It  is  one  of  the  lesser  troubles  of  the  family :  and 
there  is  yet  another  trouble — members  of  a  family 
often  misunderstand  one  another's  characters.  They 
are  sensitive  or  shy,  or  retired ;  or  they  have  some 
fanciful  sorrow  which  they  cannot  communicate  to 
others;  or  something  which  was  said  to  them  has 
produced  too  deep  an  impression  on  their  minds.  In 
their  own  family  they  are  like  strangers  ;  the  inex- 
perience of  youth  exaggerates  this  trial,  and  they 
have  no  one  to  whom  they  can  turn  for  advice  or 
help.  This  is  the  time  for  sympathy — the  sympathy 
of  a  brother  or  sister,  or  father  or  mother — which 
unlocks  the  hidden  sorrow,  and  purges  away  the 
perilous  stuff  which  was  depressing  the  mind  and 
injuring  the  character.  Sympathy,  too,  is  the  noblest 
exercise ;  of  it  is  the  Spirit  of  God  working  together 
with  our  spirit ;  it  is  warmth  as  well  as  light,  putting 
into  us  a  new  heart,  and  taking  away  the  stony  heart 
which  is  dead  to  its  natural  surroundings. 

(Miscellaneous  Sermons,  344—5') 

The  Softening  Influence  of  Death 

How  different  are  our  recollections  of  the  dead  as 
they  pass  from  us,  at  one  age  or  another,  in  all  the 
various  circumstances  of  human  life,  somefantes  in 
llmine  primo,  having  never  tasted  of  good  and  evil, 
others  sinking  to  rest  after  many  years  and  the 
fulfilment  of  many  duties,  some  famous  and  opulent, 


234  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

others  sleeping  in  a  nameless  grave.  Almost  every 
family,  however  humble,  has  its  tale  of  love  and 
death.  There  was  the  little  child,  who  if  it  had 
survived  would  have  long  since  grown  up  to  the 
estate  of  man  or  woman,  with  its  prattle  and  its 
playthings  and  its  innocent  ways,  who  still  after 
twenty  years  and  more  has  a  corner  in  the  soul 
of  some  one.  There  was  the  elder  brother  or  sister, 
whose  loving  and  peaceful  end,  whose  thought  of 
others  and  thoughtlessness  of  themselves,  have  left 
an  impression  which  the  rest  of  the  family  carry 
with  them  to  the  grave.  There  was  the  aged  man, 
who  seemed  to  be  already  the  inhabitant  of  another 
world.  There  were  our  parents,  too,  who  did  so 
much  for  us,  on  whom,  looking  back  in  later  life,  we 
feel  that  we  hardly  recognized  the  debt  that  was  due 
to  them.  We  may  not  always  have  understood 
them ;  we  sometimes  took  offence  at  them  need- 
lessly. There  are  some  things  which  we  should 
like  to  say  to  them,  but  the  time  for  speaking  has 
passed.  There  are  some  chapters  of  life  (not  our 
whole  lives)  that  we  should  like  to  have  over  again ; 
this,  however,  is  not  possible.  These  are  some  of 
the  reflections  which,  when  they  dive  into  the  past, 
older  persons  find  arising  in  their  minds ;  which  the 
young  when  they  cease  to  be  young,  '  and  the  time  for 
speaking  has  past,'  may  find  occurring  to  themselves. 
There  are  other  relations  which  are  severed  by 
death — such  as,  above  all,  the  tie  of  husband  and 
wife,  of  the  lover  and  his  beloved  : 

'  But  she  is  in  her  grave,  and  oh ! 
The  difference  to  me!' 

Friends,  too,  must  part  who  have  loved  each  other 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  235 

as  their  own  souls.  Sometimes  they  may  have  con- 
versed together  in  perfect  friendship,  and  sometimes 
there  may  have  been  an  imperfect  sympathy,  or  a 
slight  exactingness  on  the  part  of  either,  or  a  change 
of  circumstances  may  have  prevented  the  talking 
freely  together,  or  interposed  a  cloud  or  distance 
between  them.  How  different  do  all  these  things 
appear  in  the  presence  of  death :  then  we  feel  that 
we  cannot  say  too  much  good  of  a  beloved  friend ; 
we  are  happy  if  in  moments  of  temporary  alienation 
we  never  uttered  a  word  against  them.  And  the 
estimate  which  we  form  of  them  and  of  other  men 
after  they  are  gone  is  really  more  just,  because  it 
is  not  disturbed  by  personal  feeling.  History,  too, 
is  more  just  to  great  men  than  their  own  con- 
temporaries are  apt  to  be.  For  they  are  removed 
from  us  by  distance,  so  that  we  see  them  in  their 
true  proportions.  A  man's  life,  regarded  as  a  whole, 
is  better  and  truer  than  the  running  commentary  on 
his  words  and  actions  which  is  made  from  day  to 
day.  And  so  too  with  private  friends :  we  are  no 
longer  exigeant  in  our  view  of  them ;  we  take  them 
now  as  they  are;  we  do  not  ask  of  them  super- 
human virtue  or  a  combination  of  impossible  qualities. 
(Biographical  Sermons ,  131—3.) 

Sympathy,  Human  and  Divine 

In  merely  human  things,  the  aid  and  sympathy  of 
others  increase  our  power  to  act :  it  is  also  the  fact 
that  we  can  work  more  effectually  and  think  more 
truly  where  the  issue  is  not  staked  on  the  result  of 
our  thought  and  work.  The  confidence  of  success 
would  be  more  than  half  the  secret  of  success,  did 


236  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

it  not  also  lead  to  the  relaxation  of  our  efforts.  But 
in  the  life  of  the  believer,  the  sympathy,  if  such 
a  figure  of  speech  may  be  allowed,  is  not  human,  but 
Divine ;  the  confidence  is  not  a  confidence  in  our- 
selves, but  in  the  power  of  God,  which  at  once 
takes  us  out  of  ourselves  and  increases  our  obligation 
to  exertion.  The  instances  just  mentioned  have  an 
analogy,  though  but  a  faint  one,  with  that  which  we 
are  considering.  They  are  shadows  of  the  support 
which  we  receive  from  the  Infinite  and  Everlasting. 
As  the  philosopher  said  that  his  theory  of  fatalism 
was  absolutely  required  to  insure  the  repose  necessary 
for  moral  action,  it  may  be  said,  in  a  far  higher 
sense,  that  the  consciousness  of  a  Divine  Providence 
is  necessary  to  enable  a  rational  being  to  meet  the 
present  trials  of  life,  and  to  look  without  fear  on  his 
future  destiny. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  126-7.) 

Changes  in  Life  and  Character 

All  that  is  true  in  the  theory  of  habits  seems 
to  be  implied  in  the  notion  of  order  or  regularity. 
Even  this  is  inadequate  to  give  a  conception  of  the 
structure  of  human  beings.  Order  is  the  beginning, 
but  freedom  is  the  perfection  of  our  moral  nature. 
Men  do  not  live  at  random,  or  act  one  instant  without 
reference  to  their  actions  just  before.  And  in  youth 
especially,  the  very  sameness  of  our  occupations  is 
a  sort  of  stay  and  support  to  us,  as  in  age  it  may  be 
described  as  a  kind  of  rest.  But  no  one  will  say 
that  the  mere  repetition  of  actions  until  they  con- 
stitute a  habit  gives  any  explanation  of  the  higher 
and  nobler  forms  of  human  virtue,  or  the  finer 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  237 

moulds  of  character.  Life  cannot  be  explained  as 
the  working  of  a  mere  machine,  still  less  can  moral 
or  spiritual  life  be  reduced  to  merely  mechanical 
laws. 

But  if,  while  acknowledging  that  a  great  propor- 
tion of  mankind  are  the  creatures  of  habit,  and  that 
a  great  part  of  our  actions  are  nothing  more  than  the 
result  of  habit,  we  go  on  to  ask  ourselves  about  the 
changes  of  our  life  and  fix  our  minds  on  the  critical 
points,  we  are  led  to  view  human  nature,  not  only  in 
a  wider  and  more  generous  spirit,  but  also  in  a  way 
more  accordant  with  the  language  of  Scripture.  We 
no  longer  measure  ourselves  by  days  or  by  weeks ; 
we  are  conscious  that  at  particular  times  we  have 
undergone  great  revolutions  or  emotions ;  and  then, 
again,  have  intervened  periods,  lasting  perhaps  for 
years,  in  which  we  have  pursued  the  even  current  of 
our  way.  Our  progress  towards  good  may  have 
been  in  idea  an  imperceptible  and  regular  advance ; 
in  fact,  we  know  it  to  have  been  otherwise.  We 
have  taken  plunges  in  life ;  there  are  many  eras 
noted  in  our  existence.  The  greatest  changes  are 
those  of  which  we  are  the  least  able  to  give  an 
account,  and  which  we  feel  the  most  disposed  to 
refer  to  a  superior  power.  That  they  were  simply 
mysterious,  like  some  utterly  unknown  natural  pheno- 
mena, is  our  first  thought  about  them.  But  although 
unable  to  fathom  their  true  nature,  we  are  capable  of 
analysing  many  of  the  circumstances  which  accom- 
pany them,  and  of  observing  the  impulses  out  of 
which  they  arise. 

Every  man  has  the  power  of  forming  a  resolution, 
or,  without  previous  resolution,  in  any  particular 
instance,  acting  as  he  will.  As  thoughts  come  into 


238  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

the  mind  one  cannot  tell  how,  so  too  motives  spring 
up  without  our  being  able  to  trace  their  origin. 
Why  we  suddenly  see  a  thing  in  a  new  light,  is  often 
hard  to  explain  ;  why  we  feel  an  action  to  be  right 
or  wrong  which  has  previously  seemed  indifferent, 
is  not  less  inexplicable.  We  fix  the  passing  dream 
or  sentiment  in  action ;  the  thought  is  nothing,  the 
deed  may  be  everything.  That  day  after  day,  to 
use  a  familiar  instance,  the  drunkard  will  find  ab- 
stinence easier,  is  probably  untrue ;  but  that  from 
once  abstaining  he  will  gain  a  fresh  experience,  and 
receive  a  new  strength  and  inward  satisfaction,  which 
may  result  in  endless  consequences,  is  what  every 
one  is  aware  of.  It  is  not  the  sameness  of  what  we 
do,  but  its  novelty,  which  seems  to  have  such  a 
peculiar  power  over  us ;  not  the  repetition  of  many 
blind  actions,  but  the  performance  of  a  single  con- 
scious one,  that  is  the  birth  to  a  new  life.  Indeed, 
the  very  sameness  of  actions  is  often  accompanied 
with  a  sort  of  weariness,  which  makes  men  desirous 
of  change. 

Nor  is  it  less  true  that  by  the  commission,  not  of 
many,  but  a  single  act  of  vice  or  crime,  an  inroad 
is  made  into  our  whole  moral  constitution,  which  is 
not  proportionably  increased  by  its  repetition.  The 
first  act  of  theft,  falsehood,  or  other  immorality, 
is  an  event  in  the  life  of  the  perpetrator  which  he 
never  forgets.  It  may  often  happen  that  no  account 
can  be  given  of  it;  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
education,  nor  in  the  antecedents  of  the  person,  that 
would  lead  us,  or  even  himself,  to  suspect  it.  In 
the  weaker  sort  of  natures,  especially,  suggestions  of 
evil  spring  up  we  cannot  tell  how.  Human  beings 
are  the  creatures  of  habit ;  but  they  are  the  creatures 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  239 

of  impulse  too ;  and  from  the  greater  variableness  of 
the  outward  circumstances  of  life,  and  especially 
of  particular  periods  of  life,  and  the  greater  freedom  of 
individuals,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  found  that  human 
actions,  though  less  liable  to  wide-spread  or  sudden 
changes,  have  also  become  more  capricious,  and  less 
reducible  to  simple  causes,  than  formerly. 

Changes  in  character  come  more  often  in  the 
form  of  feeling  than  of  reason,  from  some  new 
affection  or  attachment,  or  alienation  of  our  former 
self,  rather  than  from  the  slow  growth  of  experience, 
or  a  deliberate  sense  of  right  and  duty.  The 
meeting  with  some  particular  person,  the  remem- 
brance of  some  particular  scene,  the  last  words  of 
a  parent  or  friend,  the  reading  of  a  sentence  in  a 
book,  may  call  forth  a  world  within  us  of  the  very 
existence  of  which  we  were  previously  unconscious. 
New  interests  arise  such  as  we  never  before  knew, 
and  we  can  no  longer  lie  grovelling  in  the  mire,  but 
must  be  up  and  doing;  new  affections  seem  to  be 
drawn  out,  such  as  warm  our  inmost  soul  and  make 
action  and  exertion  a  delight  to  us.  Mere  human 
love  at  first  sight,  as  we  say.  has  been  known  to 
change  the  whole  character  and  produce  an  earthly 
effect,  analogous  to  that  heavenly  love  of  Christ  and 
the  brethren  of  which  the  New  Testament  speaks. 
Have  we  not  seen  the  passionate  become  calm,  the 
licentious  pure,  the  weak  strong,  the  scoffer  devout  ? 
We  may  not  venture  to  say  with  St.  Paul,  'This 
is  a  great  mystery,  but  I  speak  concerning  Christ 
and  the  Church.'  But  such  instances  serve,  at  least, 
to  quicken  our  sense  of  the  depth  and  subtlety  of 
human  nature. 

Of  many  of  these  changes  no  other  reason  can  be 


240  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

given  than  that  nature  and  the  Author  of  nature 
have  made  men  capable  of  them.  There  are  others, 
again,  which  we  seem  to  trace,  not  only  to  particular 
times,  but  to  definite  actions,  from  which  they  flow 
in  the  same  manner  that  other  effects  follow  from 
their  causes.  Among  such  causes  none  are  more 
powerful  than  acts  of  self-sacrifice  and  devotion. 
A  single  deed  of  heroism  makes  a  man  a  hero ;  it 
becomes  a  part  of  him,  and,  strengthened  by  the 
approbation  and  sympathy  of  his  fellow  men,  a  sort 
of  power  which  he  gains  over  himself  and  them. 
Something  like  this  is  true  of  the  lesser  occasions  of 
life  no  less  than  of  the  greatest ;  provided  in  either 
case  the  actions  are  not  of  such  a  kind  that  the 
performance  of  them  is  a  violence  to  our  nature. 
Many  a  one  has  stretched  himself  on  the  rank  of 
asceticism,  without  on  the  whole  raising  his  nature ; 
often  he  has  seemed  to  have  gained  in  self-control 
only  what  he  has  lost  in  the  kindlier  affections,  and 
by  his  very  isolation  to  have  wasted  the  opportunities 
which  nature  offered  him  of  self-improvement.  But 
no  one  with  a  heart  open  to  human  feelings,  loving 
not  man  the  less,  but  God  more,  sensitive  to  the 
happiness  of  this  world,  yet  aiming  at  a  higher — no 
man  of  such  a  nature  ever  made  a  great  sacrifice,  or 
performed  a  great  act  of  self-denial,  without  impress- 
ing a  change  on  his  character,  which  lasted  to  his 
latest  breath.  No  man  ever  took  his  besetting  sin, 
it  may  be  lust,  or  pride,  or  love  of  rank  and  position, 
and,  as  it  were,  cut  it  out  by  voluntarily  placing 
himself  where  to  gratify  it  was  impossible,  without 
sensibly  receiving  a  new  strength  of  character.  In  one 
day,  almost  in  an  hour,  he  may  become  an  altered 
man ;  he  may  stand,  as  it  were,  on  a  different  stage 


THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE  241 

of  moral  and  religious  life ;   he  may  feel  himself  in 
new  relations  to  an  altered  world. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  119-23.) 

The  Reality  of  Religious  Influences 

Knowledge  itself  is  a  weak  instrument  to  stir  the 
soul  compared  with  religion  ;  morality  has  no  way 
to  the  heart  of  man ;  but  the  Gospel  reaches  the 
feelings  and  the  intellect  at  once.  In  nations  as 
well  as  individuals,  in  barbarous  times  as  well  as 
civilized,  in  the  great  crises  of  history  especially, 
even  in  the  latest  ages,  when  the  minds  of  men  seem 
to  wax  cold,  and  all  things  remain  the  same  as  at 
the  beginning,  it  has  shown  itself  to  be  a  reality 
without  which  human  nature  would  cease  to  be  what 
it  is.  Almost  every  one  has  had  the  witness  of  it 
in  himself.  No  one,  says  Plato,  ever  passed  from 
youth  to  age  in  unbelief  of  the  gods,  in  heathen 
times.  Hardly  any  educated  person  in  a  Christian 
land  has  passed  from  youth  to  age  without  some 
aspiration  after  a  better  life,  some  thought  of  the 
country  to  which  he  is  going. 

As  a  fact,  it  would  be  admitted  by  most  that,  at 
some  period  of  their  lives,  the  thought  of  the  world 
to  come  and  of  future  judgement,  the  beauty  and 
loveliness  of  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  the  sense  of 
the  shortness  of  our  days  here,  have  wrought  a  more 
quickening  and  powerful  effect  than  any  moral  truths 
or  prudential  maxims.  Many  a  one  would  acknow- 
ledge that  he  has  been  carried  whither  he  knew  not ; 
and  had  nobler  thoughts,  and  felt  higher  aspirations, 
than  the  course  of  his  ordinary  life  seemed  to  allow. 
These  were  the  most  important  moments  of  his  life 
R 


242  THE  WISDOM  OF  LIFE 

for  good  or  for  evil ;  the  critical  points  which  have 
made  him  what  he  is,  either  as  he  used  or  neglected 
them.  They  came  he  knew  not  how,  sometimes 
with  some  outward  and  apparent  cause,  at  other 
times  without — the  result  of  affliction  or  sickness, 
or  '  the  wind  blowing  where  it  listeth.' 

And  if  such  changes  and  such  critical  points 
should  be  found  to  occur  in  youth  more  often  than 
in  age,  in  the  poor  and  ignorant  rather  than  in  the 
educated,  in  women  more  often  than  in  men — if 
reason  and  reflection  seem  to  weaken  as  they  regu- 
late the  springs  of  human  action,  this  very  fact  may 
lead  us  to  consider  that  reason,  and  reflection,  and 
education,  and  the  experience  of  age,  and  the  force 
of  manly  sense,  are  not  the  links  which  bind  us  to 
the  communion  of  the  body  of  Christ;  that  it  is 
rather  to  those  qualities  which  we  have,  or  may 
have,  in  common  with  our  fellow  men,  that  the 
Gospel  is  promised ;  and  that  it  is  with  the  weak, 
the  poor,  the  babes  in  Christ — not  with  the  strong- 
minded,  the  resolute,  the  consistent — that  we  shall 
sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

(The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  ii.  131-2.) 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


DECEIVE; 


nrn  2  n  *fifi -4 


LC    M  o>r 


1967 


•t* 


851 186 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


